Deborah Carr

Deborah Carr is a U.S. sociologist, academic, and author. She is the Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the inaugural director of the Center for Innovation in Social Science at Boston University.

Education Carr grew up in Cranston, RI and graduated from Cranston High School East. She earned her B.A. in sociology-based human relations at Connecticut College and received her PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997, where her dissertation focused on whether the fulfillment of occupational goals influences mental health at midlife.

Career Academic positions Carr has held faculty positions at University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, and Rutgers University, where she was acting director of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research. In May 2024, she was awarded the title of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor by the Dean of the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences.

Editorial positions In January 2023, she was appointed as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Prior to this, she held the position of editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences from 2015 to 2020. Additionally, she has served as deputy editor for both Social Psychology Quarterly and the Journal of Marriage and Family, as well as trends editor for Contexts. and co-investigator of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS). Additionally, she served as the principal investigator of the New Jersey End of Life Study and Wisconsin Study of Families and Loss (WISTFL), a follow-up to Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. the social, psychological, and interpersonal consequences of the stigma associated with obesity, the impact of climate change on the health and well-being of older adults, and issues related to death, dying, and bereavement. Her work has been funded by National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and RRF Foundation on Aging, among other organizations. She has authored several books including Aging in America (2023, University of California Press), Golden Years? Social Inequality in Late Life (2019, Russell Sage), and Worried Sick (2014, Rutgers University Press).

Recognition Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor, Boston University College of Arts and Sciences, 2024 Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award, Section on Aging and the Life Course, American Sociological Association, 2023 Richard Kalish Innovation Publication Award for Golden Years? Social Inequality in Later Life (2019), Gerontological Society of America, 2020 Member, Sociological Research Association, 2008 Fellow, Gerontological Society of America, 2006