Neal Montgomery, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Dr. Montgomery is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Kansas and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Kansas Medical center.

• BA, Mathematics, University of Kansas
• MS, Biostatistics, University of Kansas Medical Center
• PhD, Biostatistics, University of Kansas Medical Center

• American Statistical Association, Member, 2021 - Present

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Research

Overview

Dr. Montgomery's research focuses on improving the rigor and reliability of clinical trials. A major barrier to efficient clinical trials is poor recruitment and retention, which leads approximately a third of all funded trial to stop early without answering their clinical question. Researchers have used pilot and feasibility studies (PAFS) to assess whether a definitive trial can be completed; however, the traditional methods used to design and analyze PAFS are inadequate to fully evaluate these complex interventions. PAFS are typically characterized by small sample sizes, many (often correlated) outcomes of interest and the need to make a clear decision at the end of the study. Dr. Montgomery has developed novel Bayesian statistical approaches to design and analyze PAFS which outperform traditional approaches. He is currently working to extend these approaches to include efficacy data, identify the number of required sites for definitive trials and develop methods to identify the need for adaptations in ongoing trials. Dr. Montgomery's research has been funded by the NIH (R03AG073932). He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Pilot and Feasibility Studies.

Dr. Montgomery has worked with collaborators in a wide range of fields including Alzheimer's, Nephrology and Obesity related research. He has experience in statistical methods includes power and sample size estimation, experimental design, longitudinal data analysis and survival analysis, and with both fixed and Bayesian adaptive trial designs.

• National Diabetes Prevention Program in Rural Communities, NIH, Co-I
• Prevention of Weight Gain and Impaired Glucose Metabolism Post Kidney Transplantation: A Pilot and Feasibility Study, NIH, Co-I
• Effectiveness of the Addition of Yoga to a Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention for Adults with Overweight or Obesity, NIH, Co-I

• Montgomery Robert N, Bodde Amy E, Vidoni Eric D. 2025. Jointly assessing multiple endpoints in pilot and feasibility studies. Statistical Methods in Medical Research
• Montgomery Robert N. 2025. Sample size justification in feasibility studies: moving beyond published guidance. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 11 (88)
• Montgomery Robert, Ptomey Lauren, Mahnken Jonathan. 2022. A flexible test for early-stage studies with multiple endpoints. Journal of Applied Statistics
• Montgomery Robert N, Mahnken Jonathan D. 2020. A prediction-based test for multiple endpoints. Statistics in Medicine
• Montgomery R. N, Watts A. S, Burns N. C, Vidoni E. D, Mahnken J. D. 2019. Evaluating paired categorical data when the pairing is lost. Journal of Applied Statistics, 46 (2), 351-363
• Lepping Rebecca J, Montgomery Robert N, Sharma Palash, Mahnken Jonathan D, Vidoni Eric D, Choi In-Young, Brooks William M, Burns Jeffrey M, Gupta ADiti. 2020. Normalization of Cerebral Blood Flow, Neurochemicals, and White Matter Integrity after Kidney Transplantation. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
• Gupta Aditi, Montgomery Robert N, Bedros Vector, Lesko John, Mahnken Jonathan D, Chakraborty Shweta, Drew David, Klein Jeffrey A, Thomas Tashra S, Ilahe Amna, Budhiraja Pooja, Brooks William M, Schmitt Timothy M, Sarnak Mark J, Burns Jeffrey M, Cibrik Diane M. 2019. Sub-clinical Cognitive Impairment and Listing for Kidney Transplantation. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
• Bengtson Charles D, Montgomery Robert N, Nazir Usman, Satterwhite Lewis, Kim Michael, Bahr Nathan, Castro Mario, Baumlin Nathalie, Salathe Matthias. 2021. An Open Label Trial to Assess Safety of Losartan for Treating Worsening Respiratory Illness in COVID-19. Frontiers in Medicine
• Ptomey Lauren T, Montgomery Robert N, Gorczyca Anna M, Szabo-Reed Amanda N, Sullivan Debra K, Hastert Mary, Foster Rachel N, Washburn Richard A, Donnely Joseph E. 2022. The Impact of Exercise and Cumulative Physical Activity on Energy Intake and Diet Quality in Adults Enrolled in The Midwest Exercise Trial for The Prevention of Weight Regain. British Journal of Nutrition
• Gupta A, Thomas TS, Klein JA, Montgomery RN, Mahnken JD, Johnson DK, Drew DA, Sarnak MJ, Burns JM. 2018. Discrepancies between Perceived and Measured Cognition in Kidney Transplant Recipients: Implications for Clinical Management.. Nephron, 138 (1), 22-28