[3][4][5] Carr earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997,[6] where her dissertation focused on whether the fulfillment of occupational goals influences mental health at midlife.
[8] In September 2021, she was appointed as the inaugural director of the Center for Innovation in Social Science at Boston University.
[1] In January 2023, she was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
[9] Prior to this, she held the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences from 2015 to 2020.
[12] Her research focuses on four key areas: the effects of family-related stressors, such as divorce and widowhood, on health and well-being in older adulthood,[13][14] the social, psychological, and interpersonal consequences of the stigma associated with obesity,[15] the impact of global warming on the health and well-being of the elderly,[16] and issues related to death, dying, and bereavement.