Biography

My expertise lies in understanding the factors that bolster older adults’ ability to remain healthy and active as long as possible. My recent work focuses on understanding the complex pathways between health and active engagement during later life, particularly with respect to the ways in which engaging in paid work, volunteering, and caregiving shapes cognitive, psychological, and functional health, and the onset of disability. I am particularly concerned about issues of inequality, including barriers and facilitators of these activities as well as the differential effects these activities have on well-being. Before joining Florida State University in 2016, I was a researcher at the Stanford Center on Longevity, a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Program for Health and Aging Research (CPHAR) at the Institute on Aging at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a researcher at Scripps Gerontology Center.

Education

2010-2012 – Postdoctoral Fellowship, Carolina Program for Health and Aging Research Program, Institute on Aging University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
2009 – Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, OH
2005 – M.G.S., Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, OH
2000 – B.A., Department of Fine Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Professional Experience

Articles Written For Psychology Today can be found at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/dawn-c-carr-mgs-phd