Casey Sarapas, PhD

Research Scientist

Graduated University of Illinois at Chicago, 2016

Specialty areas: clinical psychology; psychological assessment; health services evaluation; research design; statistics; data science; data visualization

Dr. Casey Sarapas has been a research scientist at Chestnut Health Systems’ Lighthouse Institute since 2021. His work focuses on evaluating systems of care for behavioral health with an emphasis on high-need, underserved populations. He collaborates with Lighthouse Institute and external scientists across several projects, covering data services, statistics, research design, reporting, and dissemination. In collaboration with Dr. Michael Dennis and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Dr. Sarapas co-leads a randomized control trial of a novel family-based substance use treatment for pregnant or parenting caregivers who are involved with, or at risk of involvement with, the child welfare system. Working with Dr. Dennis and researchers at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, he led analyses for an NIMH-funded trial testing the e-Connect clinical decision support system (CDSS) for behavioral health screening and treatment linkage among justice-involved youth. In addition, Dr. Sarapas serves as study statistician on an ongoing stepped wedge implementation-effectiveness trial of the e-Connect system. He is the lead analyst on the evaluation team for the state of Illinois’s SAMHSA-funded State Opioid Response (SOR) and SBIRT programs and has worked with Dr. Dennis Watson and the Cook County Health Department on evaluating several SAMHSA- and CDC-funded programs. Dr. Sarapas also has an interest in the development of data tools and is the author of the “lighthouse” R package. Dr. Sarapas holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed his predoctoral internship at the VA Maryland Health Care System. Prior to joining the Lighthouse Institute, he worked in direct patient care as a neuropsychology fellow at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance and as a staff neuropsychologist at Mount Auburn Hospital.

Selected Publications: 

Ryan, M. E., Elkington, K. S., Sarapas, C., Sichel, C., Taxman, F., Dennis, M. L., & Wasserman, G. A. (2023). Evaluating e-Connect: Mitigating race by gender disparities in behavioral health referral among youths on probation, Northeast United States, 2019. American Journal of Public Health, 113(12), 1267–1270. PMCID: PMC10632848. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307417

Elkington, K. S., Wasserman, G. A., Ryan, M. E., Sichel, C. E., Sarapas, C., Dennis, M. L., & Taxman, F. S. (2023). e-Connect: Linking probation youth at risk for suicide to behavioral health services. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 91(9), 547–557. PMCID: PMC10526689. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000824

Lanca, M., Giuliano, A. J., Sarapas, C., Potter, A. I., Kim, M. S., West, A. L., & Chow, C. M. (2020). Clinical outcomes and satisfaction following neuropsychological assessment for adults: A community hospital prospective quasi-experimental study. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 35(8), 1303–1311. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acz059

Sarapas, C., Weinberg, A., Langenecker, S. A., & Shankman S. A. (2017). Relationships among attention networks and physiological responding to threat. Brain and Cognition, 111, 63–72. PMCID: PMC5209251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2016.09.012

See all Publications

Selected Grants and Contracts: 

Co-Investigator: Connecticut Strengthening Families Together (C-SFT) (PI: Robles. ACF Children’s Bureau: 90CU0127-01-00, 2022–2027)

Co-Investigator: Scaling up eConnect in Juvenile Probation Settings: A Hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness Trial of a Digital Suicide Risk/Behavior Identification and Linkage-to-Treatment System (PI: Elkington. NIMH: R01 MH130845, 2022–2027)

Appointments and Awards: 

Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA), National Institute of Mental Health (F31 MH100823) (2013–2016)

Outstanding Predoctoral Intern, VA Maryland Health Care System (2016)

Award for Excellence in Clinical Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago (2015)

Research Fellow, UIC / NIMH Biomedical Neuroscience Training Program (T32 MH067631) (2012–2013)

Research Fellow, Chancellor’s Graduate Research Award, University of Illinois at Chicago (2012–2013)

Related Links:

Casey Sarapas Google Scholar

Casey Sarapas LinkedIn

Casey Sarapas ORCID Bibliography

lighthouse R package