U psychiatry controversy: Research doesn't deserve all-out black eye

The swirling controversy around the University of Minnesota Department of Psychiatry and the safety of clinical research seems to be focused on the negative. The university recently announced that clinical trials are being suspended.

But even as the U takes steps to shore up clinical research practices, it's important to remember that, for many families, research offers hope.

In the case of my family, it was a lifesaver.

When I was 9, one of my older sisters began a long struggle with schizophrenia. At that time, in the 1960s, mental illness was often dismissed as being the "mother's fault" — bad upbringing.

Luckily, our parents didn't buy into this view. As a school librarian, my mother started doing research of her own. She learned about a clinical drug trial at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that offered hope to help ease my sister's suffering, to control the voices and delusions from her disease.

My sister was enrolled in an early clinical trial, funded by the drug company Sandoz, for Clozapine.

Clozapine was a controversial drug that was at one point withdrawn by the manufacturer because of serious side effects. But about a decade later, clinical studies showed that the drug was more effective than others for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. In 2002, it was approved by the FDA to reduce the risk of suicide.

She eventually went from living in a mental hospital in her early 20s to living independently and volunteering most days at a domestic-violence shelter in our community.

She died from lung cancer at the age of 47, but she was a high-functioning schizophrenic only because of the results of clinical trials.

As a younger sister, I witnessed the complete cycle of her disease. There were scary times as we dealt with the fear and uncertainty of a disease that can have devastating consequences. Then we were blessed to be part of a trial that brought my sister back to us — a gift beyond measure.

My family grew to respect science and research in a profound way. Our experience led one of my brothers to become a surgeon and researcher, and it led me to a career that is largely focused on improving health through research.

My mother, who pushed so hard to get my sister into the clinical trial, was so grateful for the science that saved her daughter that she asked me to include a mention of the importance of clinical research in her eulogy when she died.