Blindness in Children:

Claudia Pedroza, Ph.D., assistant professor of biostatistics, School of Public Health

Claudia Pedroza, Ph.D.

By developing statistical methods to analyze data in clinical trials, Pedroza may have an impact on millions of children.

As part of the Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials at the School of Public Health, she is involved in a clinical trial dealing with the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity.

“This disease of the retina, which primarily affects premature infants, can potentially lead to blindness. This clinical trial seeks to study how earlier treatment of the disease will affect longterm visual outcome in children,” Pedroza said.

“After joining the biostatistics faculty at the School of Public Health, I became interested in clinical trials by talking to fellow faculty,” she said. In particular, Robert Hardy, Ph.D., the Allen King Professor in Public Health, talked extensively with her about earlier clinical trials on eye disease.

“I became very interested in the retinopathy of prematurity clinical trial,” she said, “not only because it would provide interesting research opportunities in my field, but also because the trial will impact how this disease is treated and potentially reduce the number of children who will develop blindness.”