Tootles say 'toodle-oo' to OSU

Spring commencement marked the end of an era at Ohio State as two of the University's great supporters, Jim and Barbie Tootle, retired June 30 after a combined 60 years of service to the University.

Barbara Oliver and James Tootle first came to Ohio State as undergraduates in 1961. The two were married in 1966, and after graduate school began their professional careers at the University.

Jim, upon retirement, was an associate dean in the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and Barbie was special assistant and director of special projects in President Kirwan's office.

"Nowhere is their work more visible than in this ceremony today," Kirwan said during commencement. "In the words of the great Buckeye football coach Woody Hayes, Barbie and Jim Tootle have not paid back; they have, in so many ways, paid forward. They have added immeasurably to the quality of this University and the quality of life for the members of our community."

Over the years, Barbie Tootle has played an active role in commencement, including serving on the University Events Committee, Events Communication/Promotion Committee, and Commencement Speakers Committee. She worked on the graduation remarks of four presidents -- Edward Jennings, E. Gordon Gee, Interim President Richard Sisson and Kirwan.

Jim Tootle also has made his mark on commencement. He has helped Colleges of the Arts and Sciences' deans distribute diplomas, and on occasion would present students he knew with their diplomas.

Kelly Hopkins, public inquiries assistant in Jim Tootle's office, said Tootle always attended commencement rehearsal. She said he would search the lines and locate students he helped during their college careers and make a point to congratulate them.

"It makes it so much more personal for the students and they really do appreciate it," Hopkins said.

Hospital volunteer plants the seed for healthy friendships

It was a neighbor in Cleveland in 1924 that first taught Minnie Linnet to garden at the age of 7.

"Mrs. Todd had an old-fashioned pantry with seeds," Linnet said, smiling at the memory. "She introduced me to gardening. That's where I first started."

Seventy-five years later, Linnet is still gardening. And, like her first mentor, she also chooses to share her love of plants with others.

By Kevin Fitzsimons

Minnie Linnet, 82, helps patient Vivienne Heimleich water the flowers in the Dodd Hall gardens.

Linnet, 82, is a volunteer at the University Medical Center, where she is the driving force behind a horticulture program that gives rehabilitation patients in Dodd Hall a chance to grow and tend to plants. She applied for the initial grant for the program 2 1/2 years ago, and now uses an old maintenance room as a greenhouse and Earnest Johnson Park adjacent to Dodd as garden space.

The petite senior wears her gray hair in a short bob, and dresses in blue jeans to tend to the plants. She spends anywhere from 20 to 30 hours a week volunteering, depending upon the season. She speaks matter-of-factly of her many duties, occasionally bursting into a wide smile as she describes her interactions with patients and staff.

Although she cares greatly for the marigolds, black-eyed susans, cauliflowers and other plants she grows, it is the relationships that have grown through her efforts that mean the most to her.

"Really, the interweaving of associations with patients and staff is the most meaningful part for me," she said. "That's my real reason for doing this. My own pleasure is secondary."

Linnet is a well-known personality to the staff in Dodd Hall, who know her as "Min." Leanna Igo, a therapeutic recreation specialist whose patients sometimes work in the garden, said Linnet is very visible in Dodd Hall.

"She wants to get everyone involved. She's always coming up with new ideas," Igo said. "Her enthusiasm is contagious. She shares her knowledge and her passion for gardening."

Her passion has come to fruition in a series of gardens that form a border, some as wide as 6 feet, around the outer edge of the Earnest Johnson Park, which borders Dodd Hall.

Many varieties of plants are visible. Wildflowers spill out from behind park benches, tomato plants stand in neat rows, and herbs grow in leafy, intertwining camaraderie. The gardens are divided into themes, such as vegetable or medicinal, with flowering plants, like queen anne's lace, day lilies and daffodils, interspersed here and there.

"The idea behind it all is low maintenance, easy care. That's my plan," Linnet said. Many of the plants are perennials. Before the gardens were planted, Linnet said the space was filled with shrubbery and hard pan clay.

She has included three raised beds and several concrete planters that make plants more accessible for some patients.

"Patients are out there daily," Igo said. She explained that the garden offers several opportunities for therapy. "We can work on fine motor skills by opening pea pods or someone working on gross motor skills could be doing raking or planting. A few patients who are at the point of standing up after an illness might work on moving dirt with a shovel.

"It's very rewarding for a lot of them because it's a chance to do something with a purpose," she said. "Patients who work in the garden get the chance to be a part of the process of the garden."

The garden also can simply be a soothing place for patients and staff to visit.

"This goes on all the time," said Linnet, gesturing across the yard to where a man was leisurely pushing along the path a man seated in a wheelchair. Linnet said many staff members like to take a stroll along the garden's edge during their breaks.

Linnet was a volunteer at the Biological Sciences greenhouse for three years prior to coming to Dodd Hall. She wrote the proposal for the horticulture program out of a strong belief that patients could benefit from working with plants.

She stresses that she herself does not perform therapy with patients, but that she assists the licensed therapists in their work by providing them with the plants and space.

The gardening program is supported by donations from groups like the Junior League of Columbus and businesses like Schmidt Nursery Co., and also by sales at the hospitals. She also relies on the help of other volunteers to keep everything running smoothly. A garden tea will be held at Dodd Hall at 3:30 p.m. June 30 and is open to all interested faculty and staff.

Linnet worked as a Franklin County speech therapist for students with multiple handicaps for 15 years. She attended Ohio State in 1939 for three quarters, but had to leave when her mother became ill. She returned to college at the age of 59, earning a bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Bowling Green State University at the same time her daughter was attending BGSU's school of education. Linnet and her husband, have four children.

She loves her work at the hospital. "First of all, it's like having my own dream garden," she said. "Because although I had a pretty good size garden, I now live in an apartment."

Volunteering, she said, helps to expand her horizons. "It helps me healthwise. It really does me a lot of good," she said. "It gives me an opportunity to grow almost everything I'm interested in and to continue with my career."

She'd love to see the program become permanent and have the support of a full-time licensed horticulture therapist. "I'm 82 years old. I won't be here forever," she said. "I'll stay and do this as long as I can. But I want this to be a full-time position. I want this to continue after me."

Ohio State hosts first IRB town meeting

Officials from three federal agencies and one university joined forces at Ohio State's Fawcett Center to help 200-plus researchers wend their way through the myriad issues surrounding research involving human subjects.

On June 18, the University hosted a first-of-its-kind town meeting that provided access to Institutional Review Board (IRB) experts. Representatives from the Office for Protection from Research Risks/National Institutes of Health (OPRR), the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Kentucky were on campus for the day-long conference that focused on the basic principles of research involving human subjects. The event was co-sponsored by OPRR and FDA.

"The idea for a town meeting came from previous IRB conference evaluations and discussions, where participants said they particularly valued asking questions and hearing responses 'straight from the horse's mouth,'" said Karen Hale, vice chair of Ohio State's Biomedical Sciences IRB and clinical assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy.

Human subject IRBs -- those committees responsible for evaluating research protocols that use human subjects -- are an especially hot topic now, in light of what has recently happened at other research institutions, such as Duke University and the University of Cincinnati.

The OPRR, which hosts educational workshops around the country, is the federal agency responsible for providing guidance on ethical issues in biomedical and behavioral research. In early May, it suspended between 250 and 300 studies at Duke after the university had been asked several times to correct what the OPRR had identified as "deficiencies" in Duke's human research protocol. The suspension was lifted within a few days.

According to an April 28 article in The Cincinnati Enquirer, OPRR had required the University of Cincinnati to re-review all of its federally funded medical research. Documents showed that researchers had failed to report the deaths of eight people who had participated in medical experiments. Although the deaths were ultimately deemed unrelated to the experiments, OPRR requires the reporting of a subject's death regardless of the cause.

"These events can play a major role in teaching and enlightening us," said Bernadine Healy, dean of Ohio State's College of Medicine and Public Health during the day's opening remarks.

She outlined the three "timeless principles" of human subject research: respect for individuals, beneficence and justice. It's IRB's job to make sure these criteria are met, Healy said.

"The unsung heroes at the university are the institutional review boards," she said. "Not only is there a substantial time commitment involved as well as playing a different role among their colleagues, IRB members have to make decisions -- sometimes unpopular -- in the name of justice, beneficence and respect."

Healy introduced OPRR director Gary Ellis, who further discussed the basic tenets of IRBs. According to its Web site, the OPRR also has oversight and educational responsibilities wherever Department of Health and Human Services funds are used to conduct or support research involving human subjects.

Ellis expanded on the three key points of human subject research, pointing out that 1999 marks the 25th anniversary of the DHHS' guidelines for human subject protection.

He outlined the responsibilities of an IRB, which include ensuring informed consent and recommending all investigators receive a copy of their respective institution's assurance -- a written agreement between OPRR and the institution engaged in research.

He also talked about the importance of keeping written records. Records should include meeting minutes, attendance, actions taken and a written summary of the discussion of controversial issues and their resolutions.

"Any faculty wanting to do research is under the purview of an IRB," said Sue Koletar, a professor of internal medicine and chair of Ohio State's Biomedical Sciences IRB, effective July 1.

While IRBs may be an institution's "unsung heroes," "inadequate institutional support is the root cause of compliance problems," Ellis said. "And institutions that have experienced problems in protecting human subjects often emerge as national leaders.

"But an institution does not have to wait for a problem to occur before it takes action."

Ellis then opened the question- and-answer session, introducing his colleagues on the panel: Thomas Puglisi, director of human subject protections for OPRR; Diane Aiken of the OPRR assurance branch; Paul Goebel, associate director for human subject protection at the FDA; and Susan Rose, the program manager of human research subjects at the U.S. Department of Energy.

The five fielded questions ranging from issues of informed consent, parental permission, record keeping and the brief suspension in human subject research at Duke University.

Though most in the audience were from research institutions in Ohio, participants came from 16 other states.

The afternoon session focused on serving, staffing and administering an IRB. Jeffrey Cohen, associate director for education at OPRR, and Ada Sue Selwitz, director of sponsored program development/research subjects at the University of Kentucky, led the audience through IRB membership requirements and responsibilities, training, documentation, education and institutional assurances. Selwitz and Cohen spoke briefly on each topic, then opened it up for discussion with the audience.

The conference was a "new, interactive, experimental meeting," said Healy -- one that put experts in a room with interested investigators and IRB members from various research institutions.

"We're piloting a new educational vehicle, where within the space of a day attendees can see, touch and feel federal officials and get answers," Ellis said.

As far as Ohio State's role in complying with human subject research guidelines, the University seems to be ahead of the game in its monitoring practices, according to Lynne Olson, a professor of veterinary bioscience and director of Ohio State's Policy Coordinating IRB. Olson's committee serves as the umbrella organization for the University's three other IRBs: Biomedical Sciences; Behavioral and Social Sciences; and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

The University is on the verge of completing a year-long, four-part evaluation of its human subject protection practices.

"It's a one-time look at how Ohio State is doing with its human subject research," said Olson, who implemented the plan. "We want to know how our efforts compare to other universities and also what our weaknesses are so we can better educate our investigators."

Interested individuals can watch the OPRR's Web site: www.rf.ohio-state.edu/resrisks/humanindx.htm.