Doctoral Student Publishes First-Author Article in The Journal of Pediatrics

Nivedita “Nive” Selvaraj, a doctoral student in biostatistics in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, recently published a first-author article in The Journal of Pediatrics, a leading peer-reviewed publication focused on pediatric medicine.

The article, “An Introduction to Classification and Regression Trees for Risk Assessment in Pediatric Research,” was co-authored with Selvaraj’s faculty advisor, Sixia Chen, Ph.D.

In the article, Selvaraj and Chen introduce classification and regression trees, commonly known as CART, and their use in pediatric risk assessment. The statistical method helps researchers identify patterns within complex data and organize risk factors into an interpretable, tree-like structure. This approach can help pediatric researchers better understand how multiple factors work together to influence health outcomes.

As first author, Selvaraj took a leading role in developing the article and translating a complex statistical method for a clinical research audience. The publication reflects both her growing expertise as a biostatistician and the important role biostatistics plays in strengthening pediatric and public health research.

Selvaraj is pursuing her Ph.D. in biostatistics at the Hudson College, where her research focuses on developing and applying statistical and data science methods to clinical and population health challenges. Her work demonstrates how collaboration between biostatisticians and health researchers can make sophisticated analytical tools more accessible and useful in practice.

The article was published online June 12, 2026, and is available through The Journal of Pediatrics.