Bedda L Rosario

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology. My professional endeavors focus on design and analysis of both observational studies and randomized clinical trials. My research primarily addresses topics related to traumatic brain injury, neuroimaging, and trauma. I have many years of experience working in health sciences and neuroimaging fields.

Contributions to Public Health

Pediatric traumatic brain injury: I have collaborated with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh focusing on pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). These studies have applied advanced statistical analyses methods, including propensity score analysis and penalized regression, using observational data in order to reduce the bias due to confounding variables.

1. Bell, M. J., Rosario, B. L., Kochanek, P. M., Adelson, P. D., Morris, K. P., Au, A. K., Schober, M., Butt, W., Edwards, R. J., Zimmerman, J., Pineda, J., Le, T. M., Dean, N., Whalen, M. J., Figaji, A., Luther, J., Beers, S. R., Gupta, D. K., Carpenter, J., Buttram, S., … Approaches and Decisions for Acute Pediatric TBI (ADAPT) Investigators (2022). Comparative Effectiveness of Diversion of Cerebrospinal Fluid for Children With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. JAMA network open, 5(7), e2220969. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.20969
2. Kochanek, P. M., Adelson, P. D., Rosario, B. L., Hutchison, J., Miller Ferguson, N., Ferrazzano, P., O'Brien, N., Beca, J., Sarnaik, A., LaRovere, K., Bennett, T. D., Deep, A., Gupta, D., Willyerd, F. A., Gao, S., Wisniewski, S. R., Bell, M. J., & ADAPT Investigators (2022). Comparison of Intracranial Pressure Measurements Before and After Hypertonic Saline or Mannitol Treatment in Children With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. JAMA network open, 5(3), e220891. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.0891
3. Rosario, B. L., Horvat, C. M., Wisniewski, S. R., Bell, M. J., Panigrahy, A., Zuccoli, G., Narayanan, S., Balasubramani, G. K., Beers, S. R., Adelson, P. D., & Investigators of the Cool Kids Trial (2018). Presenting Characteristics Associated With Outcome in Children With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Secondary Analysis From a Randomized, Controlled Trial of Therapeutic Hypothermia. Pediatric critical care medicine: a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies, 19(10), 957–964. https://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0000000000001676

Neuroimaging studies: I have made significant contributions to the field of neuroimaging, particularly in the areas of traumatic brain injury, aging, and Alzheimer’s disease. For these studies, I have applied advanced statistical analysis techniques on brain imaging data derived from MRI and PET, focusing on voxel-based analysis and region of interest analysis. Early research focused on applying mathematical and statistical methods to determine optimal performance parameters for registering a brain image to a standard space of the widely used neuroimaging software Statistical Parametric Mapping. Additionally, I evaluated inter-rater reliability of manual and automated delineation of regions of interest for the Pittsburgh Compound B PET radiotracer.

1. Ferrazzano, P. A., Rosario, B. L., Wisniewski, S. R., Shafi, N. I., Siefkes, H. M., Miles, D. K., Alexander, A. L., & Bell, M. J. (2019). Use of magnetic resonance imaging in severe pediatric traumatic brain injury: assessment of current practice. Journal of neurosurgery. Pediatrics, 23(4), 471–479. https://doi.org/10.3171/2018.10.PEDS18374
2. Rosario, B. L., Rosso, A. L., Aizenstein, H. J., Harris, T., Newman, A. B., Satterfield, S., Studenski, S. A., Yaffe, K., Rosano, C., & Health ABC Study (2016). Cerebral White Matter and Slow Gait: Contribution of Hyperintensities and Normal-appearing Parenchyma. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 71(7), 968–973. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glv224
3. Rosario, B. L., Weissfeld, L. A., Laymon, C. M., Mathis, C. A., Klunk, W. E., Berginc, M. D., James, J. A., Hoge, J. A., & Price, J. C. (2011). Inter-rater reliability of manual and automated region-of-interest delineation for PiB PET. NeuroImage, 55(3), 933–941. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.12.070
4. Rosario, B. L., Ziolko, S. K., Weissfeld, L. A., & Price, J. C. (2008). Assessment of parameter settings for SPM5 spatial normalization of structural MRI data: application to type 2 diabetes. NeuroImage, 41(2), 363–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.02.004

Longitudinal Data: I have applied statistical analysis to analyze longitudinal data (for normally distributed data or using transformations for non-normally distributed data) that included missing values and linear mixed models in several research areas including traumatic brain injury, insomnia, and imaging.

1. Clark RSB, Empey PE, Bayır H, Rosario BL, Poloyac SM, Kochanek PM, Nolin TD, Au AK, Horvat CM, Wisniewski SR, Bell MJ. Phase I randomized clinical trial of N-acetylcysteine in combination with an adjuvant probenecid for treatment of severe traumatic brain injury in children. PLoS One. 2017 Jul 7;12(7):e0180280. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180280. PMID: 28686657; PMCID: PMC5501440.
2. Hasler BP, Martin CS, Wood DS, Rosario B, Clark DB. A longitudinal study of insomnia and other sleep complaints in adolescents with and without alcohol use disorders. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2014 Aug;38(8):2225-33. doi: 10.1111/acer.12474. Epub 2014 Jun 27. PMID: 24976511; PMCID: PMC4146702.
3. Haney A, Buysse DJ, Rosario BL, Chen YF, Okun ML. Sleep disturbance and cardiometabolic risk factors in early pregnancy: a preliminary study. Sleep Med. 2014 Apr;15(4):444-50. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2014.01.003. Epub 2014 Feb 8. PMID: 24657205; PMCID: PMC4084505.
4. Wu YL, Ye Q, Eytan DF, Liu L, Rosario BL, Hitchens TK, Yeh FC, Rooijen van N, Ho C. Magnetic resonance imaging investigation of macrophages in acute cardiac allograft rejection after heart transplantation. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2013 Nov;6(6):965-73. doi: 10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.113.000674. Epub 2013 Oct 4. PMID: 24097421; PMCID: PMC3886711.