Expert

Deborah Carr is Professor of Sociology at Boston University. She was previously Professor of Sociology and Interim Director of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research at Rutgers University. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin in 1997, and her research interests include aging and the life course, psychosocial factors influences on health over the life course, and end-of-life issues.

She is the author of several books including Making Up with Mom: Why Mothers and Daughters Disagree about Kids, Careers, and Casseroles (and What to Do about it) (2008, St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne) and Worried Sick: How Stress Hurts Us and How to Bounce Back (2014, Rutgers University Press). She also has published widely in academic journals including Journal of Marriage & Family, Journal of Health & Social Behavior, and Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Dr. Carr is Principal Investigator (PI) of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, and is also co-investigator on several NIA-funded studies of end-of-life issues, including the New Jersey End of Life study and Wisconsin Study of Families and Loss (WISTFL), a follow up to Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Carr is a member of the honorary organization Sociological Research Association and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. She has served as deputy editor of Social Psychology Quarterly and Journal of Marriage and Family, and as trends editor of Contexts (an American Sociological Association publication). She is editor-in-chief of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences (2015-2020).