Biostatistics and Data Research Lab Activities and Publications

Research Activities

Methods development

We conduct research to implement and refine existing statistical methods and analytical techniques, or innovate to solve emerging research challenges, such as with high-dimensional data or complex study designs. It also provides an opportunity for collaborative expertise throughout a research project. The inspiration of some of our methodological work comes from real challenges encountered in our projects.

Machine Learning (ML) and Social Drivers of Health in Nutrition and Obesity Research

This program focuses on conducting rigorous research and developing training opportunities to address differences in health outcomes across different individuals and find ways to enhance the reach of obesity prevention interventions to all members of society. The BDRL creates case studies by formulating research questions and integrating big data from multiple publicly available sources. Focus areas include integrating social drivers of health into predictive algorithms for childhood obesity and developing methods for combining activity data (physical activity, sleep, sedentary behavior) with dietary, microbiome, inflammatory, and data on non-medical risk factors.

Mini Project

The Biostatistics CORE team is committed to educating and mentoring the next generation of researchers. Trainees will gain experience working with skilled staff and faculty members through hands-on training, develop research questions, design statistical analysis plans (SAPs), learn coding techniques for data management, and apply statistical methods to draw meaningful conclusions from datasets.

2025

Correlates of Preschool Children's Passively Assessed Screen Use [abstract]
T. O'Connor1, T. Garza1, U. Alam1, R. Ravikumar1, M. Kelley, A. Beltran, S. Musaad2, K. Setodji1, A. Sano2, T. Baranowski, J. Moreno1 Correlates of Preschool Children's Passively Assessed Screen Use [abstract].

Jiao, N., Alam, U., Walch, O., Dadabhoy, H., Raza, I., Kelley, M., Pham, V., Cheng, P., Moreno, J. Validation and Comparison of Mathematical Models to Predict Circadian Phase among Preschoolers [abstract].

Bacha F, Saha P, Villareal R, Musaad S, Shypailo R, Puyau M, Zhang X, Mirabile Y. Negative impact of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) on Bone accrual and strength: A longitudinal study [abstract]. J Endocr Soc. 2025; 9(Suppl 1):bvaf149.1748.

2024

Musaad SMA, Hazan H, Baranowski T, Callender C, Thompson D. Machine learning strategies for assessing intervention groups to predict obesity in an online obesity prevention program. 2nd Annual Houston Nutrition and Obesity Research Symposium. November 9, 2024; Houston, TX. Oral and Poster Presentation. Best Abstract Award

Ramos MW, de Corcuera SG, Mirabile Y, Musaad SMA, Raphael M, Gordon C. Prevalence of postpartum depression in adolescents in an urban teen clinic [abstract]. J Adolesc Health. 2024;74(3 Suppl):S98-9.

2023

Kaul I, Murray HB, Musaad S, Mirabile Y, Czyzewski DI, Sher A, Chumpitazi BP, Shulman RJ. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder is common in children with gastroparesis and functional dyspepsia – comparison with healthy children in a longitudinal study [abstract]. Gastroenterology. 2023;164(6 Suppl):S-121.

Chumpitazi BP, Williams KC, Rosen R, Nurko S, Mirabile Y, Musaad S, Shulman RJ. Relationships among water load satiety testing, gastric retention during gastric emptying scintigraphy, and gastrointestinal symptoms in children with gastroparesis and gastroparesis-like symptoms [abstract]. Gastroenterology. 2023;164(6 Suppl):S-191.

2025

Bacha F, Saha P, Villareal R, Musaad S, Shypailo R, Puyau M, Zhang X, Mirabile Y. Negative impact of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) on bone accrual and strength: A longitudinal study. ENDO 2025 – Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society.
July 12-15, 2025; San Franciso, CA. Oral presentation.

2024

Ramos MW, de Corcuera SG, Mirabile Y, Musaad SMA, Raphael M, Gordon C. Prevalence of postpartum depression in adolescents in an urban teen clinic. Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) Annual Meeting. March 13-16, 2024; San Diego, CA. Oral presentation.

2023

Callender C, Musaad S, Mirabile Y, Thompson D. Parent-reported fruit and vegetable home availability and accessibility in an online obesity prevention program for pre-adolescent Black girls. Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) Annual Meeting. October 7-10, 2023; Denver, CO. Poster presentation.

Chumpitazi BP, Williams K, Rosen R, Nurko S, Mirabile YZ, Musaad S, Shulman RJ. Relationships among water load satiety testing, gastric retention during gastric emptying scintigraphy, and gastrointestinal symptoms in children with gastroparesis and gastroparesis-like symptoms. North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Annual Meeting. October 5-7, 2023; San Diego, CA. Poster presentation.

Nagamani S, Nguyen T, Yang Y, Nguyen D, Members of Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium, Robinson C, Rondon A, Zhang Q, Sutton R, Lee B, Musaad S. Real world evidence of fracture rates in children and adults with osteogenesis imperfecta to power clinical endpoints for therapeutic interventions. American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) 2024 Annual Meeting. September 27-20, 2024; Toronto, ON. Poster presentation.

Kaul I, Burton Murray H, Musaad S, Mirabile Y, Czyzewski D, Sher A, Chumpitazi BP, Shulman RJ. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder is common in children with gastroparesis and functional dyspepsia – comparison with healthy children in a longitudinal study. Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2023. May 7-9, 2023; Chicago, IL. Oral presentation.

Juneja S, Chang J, Musaad S, O’Connor TM, Moran NE. Relative validity of nutrition assessment tools for estimating infant carotenoid intake. Taub Medical Student Research Symposium. March 9, 2023; Houston, TX. Poster Presentation.

Juneja S, Chang J, Nguyen T, Musaad S, O’Connor TM, Moran NE. Relative validity of nutrition assessment tools for estimating infant carotenoid intake. Houston Nutrition & Obesity Symposium. November 4, 2023; Houston, TX. Poster presentation.

2025

Itani A, Gronseth SL, Musaad S, Nguyen T, Mirabile Y, Beech BM. Ethical considerations for teaching with artificial intelligence: A scoping review in medical education settings. Int J Educ Technol High Educ. 2025; 22:68.

Senawong T, Nguyen T, Mirabile YZ, Senkus KE, Musaad S, Moran NE. Carotenoid and Vitamin A intake in infants and toddlers (0-24 mo) – Sources, contribution to Vitamin A requirements, and demographic patterns (NHANES 2015-2020). Nutr Res. 2025; 143:29-43.

Ramos MW, Gonzalez de Corcuera S, Mirabile Y, Musaad SMA, Raphael M, Gordon CM. Prevalence of postpartum depression in adolescents in an urban teen clinic. Matern Child Health J. 2025; 29(11):1520-1527.

Soltero EG, Salim O, Mirabile Y, Musaad SM. Exploring the acute effects of sedentary behaviors on cardiometabolic risk in Hispanic adolescents with obesity: A randomized crossover study. Children (Basel). 2025; 12(4):513.

2024

Kaul I, Burton-Murray H, Musaad S, Mirabile Y, Czyzewski D, van Tilburg MAL, Sher AC, Chumpitazi BP, Shulman RJ. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder prevalence is high in children with gastroparesis and functional dyspepsia. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2024; 36(5):e14777. Erratum in: Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2024;36(7):e14816.

So SY, Badu S, Wu Q, Yalcinkaya N, Mirabile Y, Castaneda R, Musaad S, Heitkemper M, Savidge TC, Shulman RJ. Sex-dependent efficacy of dietary fiber in pediatric functional abdominal pain. Gastroenterology. 2024; 166(4):645-657.e14.

Juneja S, Chang J, Nguyen T, Castaneda R, O’Connor TM, Musaad S, Moran NE. The relative validity of nutrition assessment methods for estimating infant carotenoid intake differs by assessment tool, nutrient database, and milk carotenoid adjustment method. Nutr Res. 2024; 128:38-49.

2023

Thompson D, Miranda J, Callender C, Dave JM, Appiah G, Musaad SMA. See me, hear me, know me: Perspectives on diet and physical activity influences among teens living in rural Texas communities. Nutrients. 2023; 15(21):4695.

Soltero EG, Lopez C, Mihail S, Hernandez A, Musaad SM, O’Connor TM, Thompson D. An SMS text message-based type 2 diabetes prevention program for Hispanic adolescents with obesity: Qualitative co-design process. JMIR Form Res. 2023; 7:e46606.

Thompson D, Mirabile Y, Islam N, Callender C, Musaad SMA, Miranda J, Moreno JP, Dave JM, Baranowski T. Diet quality among pre-adolescent African American girls in a randomized controlled obesity prevention intervention trial. Nutrients. 2023; 15(12):2716.

Perez O, Garza T, Hindera O, Beltran A, Musaad SM, Dibbs T, Singh A, Chug S, Sisson A, Kumar Vadathya A, Baranowski T, O'Connor TM. Validation assessment tools for screen media use: A systematic review. PLoS One. 2023; 18(4):e028371.

Soltero EG, Lopez C, Musaad SM, O’Connor TM, Thompson D. Fit24, a digital health intervention to reduce type 2 diabetes risk among Hispanic youth: Protocol for a feasibility pilot study. Contemp Clin Trials. 2023; 127:107117.

Geiger SD, Musaad S, Hill J, Aguiar A, Schantz S. Sex-specific associations between urinary bisphenols concentrations during pregnancy and problematic child behaviors at age 2 years. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2023; 96:107152.

Moran NE, Chang J, Stroh R, Zaidi Y, Hason N, Musaad S, O’Connor T. Non-invasive, reflection spectroscopy measurement of skin carotenoid score in infants is feasible and reliable. J Nutr. 2023; 152(12):2966-2977.