Graduate Spotlight: Sarret Seng, PhD, BA, BSN, RN
The BH WELL team is proud to recognize Dr. Sarret Seng as she graduates from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Nursing (CON) with her PhD in Nursing. Dr. Seng successfully defended her dissertation, “Substance Use in Mental Illness: A Systematic Review of Metacognition and Empirical Studies of Cannabis, Tobacco, and Psychiatric Rehospitalization” on April 14, 2026. BH WELL Executive Director Dr. Zim Okoli and BH WELL team member Dr. Lovoria Williams served as Dr. Seng’s PhD committee chairs.
Dr. Okoli shares, “Sarret has beautifully merged her love for nursing and passion for psychology into a meaningful career as a psychiatric-mental health nurse scientist. Her contributions to the BH WELL team have been immense, from being a dedicated peer mentor, an ardent graduate research assistant, a confident presenter, and a prolific writer. We have seen her grow since joining us as an undergraduate nursing research intern to blossom as a nurse scientist. Through this process, she has never once lost her cheerful smile, eagerness to help and support, and deep passion for the people and community that we serve. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Dr. Seng as she broadens her impact in the mental health field!”
In the Q&A below, Dr. Seng shares what inspired her to pursue a PhD, the passions she’s developed, and the impact of her work with BH WELL.
Why did you choose to pursue a PhD?
Dr. Seng: This decision really came from a combination of my clinical experiences and how my research interests naturally evolved over time.
Early on, my background was very much rooted in the biological/physiological science of addiction. As an undergraduate psychology student, I worked as a Sally Casanova Predoctoral Scholar under Dr. Arturo Zavala studying things like methylphenidate (Ritalin) exposure and nicotine sensitization, and later as a Summer Research Scholar under Dr. Lynn Wecker looking at nicotinic receptor mechanisms. That gave me a strong foundation in the biology behind substance use (also I liked working with the lab rats! They were cute and I adopted a few).
But my interests started to shift toward a more clinical research trajectory when I went into nursing and joined Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL) with Dr. Okoli. That’s where I really started incorporating experiences and new perspectives into a defined interest; specifically how substance use, mental illness, and access to care all intersect to impact a person’s overall wellbeing/personal recovery. I got involved in projects on tobacco use in psychiatric populations and helped with real-world interventions like tobacco treatment programs (e.g., developing translational tobacco cessation materials) and contingency management (the pilot Quit and Win program). Those experiences made me realize how many barriers people face outside of the hospital and why some interventions which work for the general population may not work for people with a mental illness.
Then, working as a psychiatric nurse at ESH solidified my decision to pursue a PhD. I kept seeing the same patients come back over and over again, which is what is sometimes described as the “revolving door” phenomenon. They would stabilize under our care as an inpatient, but once they returned to the community, so many factors were working against them (e.g., limited resources, transportation issues, fragmented care). It was frustrating to see this happening to our patients so often, especially those who were the sickest, but also really motivating. I found myself asking, "What’s happening to these folks once they’re discharged into the community? What was affecting their ability to manage their psychiatric burden and navigate their care?”
That’s what led me back to school in 2021 to pursue my PhD to study the concept of clinical insight among people with mental illness. I wanted to move beyond just seeing the problem of symptom exacerbation and relapse, and actually contribute to solutions, specifically developing and studying interventions that help people stay well in the community.
What passions have you developed during your time at UK?
Dr. Seng: I’ve developed a deep appreciation for designing interventions that are not just evidence-based in theory, but shaped by the people they’re meant to serve. I’ve become especially drawn to community-engaged and participatory approaches in behavioral health research. Specifically, I see the value of research that incorporates insight from the patients, clients, and peer support specialists as partners in the process rather than just participants.
A big part of that for me has been recognizing the value of direct qualitative input. Some of the most meaningful insights come from listening to people talk about what actually works, what doesn’t, and what feels realistic in their day-to-day lives. That perspective has shaped how I think about research from an implementation science perspective, because even the strongest intervention won’t have an impact if it doesn’t fit the context it’s being used in.
One peer support specialist I speak to often instilled in me the significant impact of “keeping it real.” So, I’ve come to really value the process of adapting and refining interventions based on that feedback. I think that’s where methodological rigor and relevance come together. Ultimately, I’m passionate about being the kind of scientist who doesn’t just generate evidence, but continuously listens and learns to integrate lived experience to make that evidence more meaningful and usable.
What projects have you worked on while with BH WELL?
Dr. Seng: Through both my undergraduate nursing research internship and as a PhD student, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects related to behavioral health outcomes, including substance use, cognitive mechanisms, interventional studies, and that breadth has been incredibly formative for me.
A lot of my early work centered on tobacco use among individuals with mental illness (e.g., looking at disparities, secondhand smoke exposure, and barriers to treatment engagement). From there, I became more involved in implementation-focused projects, including helping support tobacco treatment programs in community mental health settings and contingency management interventions aimed at improving cessation and engagement. Those experiences really helped me understand what it takes to move an intervention from theory into practice.
I’ve also worked on projects examining treatment utilization and behavioral health service delivery, often using large clinical and Medicaid datasets. That gave me experience thinking at a systems-level understanding of patterns of care, where gaps exist, and how policy and access shape outcomes.
And currently, I’m also working on projects that examine personal recovery among individuals with co-occurring mental illness and substance use. That work is helping me think more broadly about outcomes. Instead of only considering symptom reduction or treatment engagement as the primary research objective, it has made me consider the paradigm shift towards how individuals define recovery for themselves, and how we can better align interventions with those goals.
Overall, BH WELL has given me the chance to engage across multiple levels (e.g., from individual experiences to system-level data, and at times even just observing Dr. Okoli inspire collaborative motivation among other researchers and teams towards a common goal), and that’s profoundly shaped how I approach substance use research and intervention development.
Which project was your favorite to work on?
Dr. Seng: My favorite projects were the ones that involved direct patient recruitment and interaction. One thing I didn’t fully anticipate when starting my PhD was how much I would miss those one-on-one conversations. There’s something meaningful about sitting with someone, hearing their story, and understanding the challenges they’re navigating. It makes the work feel very real and very human.
I’ve also found (unexpectedly; I HATED statistics before starting this program) that I really enjoy the analytical side of the work too. I’ve had projects where I would spend hours working through difficult datasets, carefully and thoroughly cleaning (and recleaning) variables and making decisions step-by-step, always guided by the literature and with mentorship from Dr. Okoli. There’s something really satisfying about the process of taking something messy and turning it into something coherent and meaningful. And then, it is incredibly rewarding when you finally run the analyses and start to see the story emerge from the data. So, those projects, where I can both connect with participants and then later translate their experiences into meaningful findings, have really become my favorites.
What has being part of the BH WELL team meant to you?
Dr. Seng: I’m genuinely so proud to be part of this team. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the impact of our work, whether that’s through peer-reviewed publications, presentations at conferences like APNA or community partnership events (e.g., Voices of Hope and KY Stars conferences) or even those moments when someone, like a colleague, a clinician, or a patient, recognizes the name “BH WELL” when I talk about what I do. Those moments reinforce that the work we’re doing is reaching people and making a difference.
Also, I’ll say that these cumulative years being part of the BHWELL team have been foundational to my development as a researcher. I’ve had the privilege of being part of this team since my time as an undergraduate research intern, and returning to pursue my PhD under Dr. Okoli’s mentorship was one of the most meaningful decisions of my academic career. It’s been an environment where I’ve been consistently challenged to grow as a scientist. This team has provided countless opportunities for my professional and intellectual growth, while encouraging me to pursue my own research interests and develop as an independent scholar.
What’s next for you?
Dr. Seng: I'm excited to share that I have been given the opportunity to continue my training as a postdoctoral fellow in the T32 Research Training in Drug Abuse Behavior program at the University of Kentucky. My postdoctoral work will focus on substance use treatment utilization and overdose risk among justice-involved women, particularly within Appalachian communities, using large longitudinal datasets and implementation-focused approaches.
More broadly, I hope this training experience will help me continue refining my line of research as a psychiatric-mental health nurse scientist examining substance use among individuals living with mental illness. I’m especially interested in understanding how cognitive, behavioral, social, and structural factors influence behaviors that support recovery (e.g., treatment engagement and harm reduction) in community settings.
Ultimately, my long-term goal is to develop and evaluate psychiatric nurse-informed interventions that improve behavioral health outcomes and support individuals with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders in staying well and maintaining recovery within their communities.
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Please join BH WELL in congratulating Dr. Seng on this remarkable achievement. Her dedication to advancing research combined with her commitment to patient-centered and community-informed approaches positions her to make a lasting impact in both clinical practice and scientific discovery. BH WELL looks forward to seeing how her work continues to shape the future of behavioral health.