Carr and her brother were raised by a single mother with some support from their grandmother.[1] She grew up in Charleston, South Carolina.[1] She was a first-generation college student.[1] Carr earned a B.A. and M.A. in biology, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1996.[2] She completed a gap year in Butterworth, South Africa where she volunteered at a technical college.[1] She completed a M.D. at Weill Cornell Medicine in 2001.[2] At the Massachusetts General Hospital, Carr conducted an internship from 2001 to 2002 in the laboratory of endocrinologist Rexford S. Ahima and a residency from 2002 to 2004.[2]
For four years, Carr worked as a general internist at the Ferguson Medical Center in Sikeston, Missouri.[1] While there, she met and married Tyree.[1] Together, they had two children.[1] Carr completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) from 2008 to 2011 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship from 2009 to 2013.[2] In 2018, Carr was an assistant professor at HUP.[3] The same year, she was a nominee for the board of the school district of Philadelphia.[3]
Carr is a hepatologist and hepatic lipid droplet biology physician-scientist.[4] She researches the function of lipid metabolites and lipid droplet proteins in relation to hepatic insulin signaling.[5] She is an associate professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at the University of Washington.[2] She holds the Cyrus E. Rubin endowed chair in medicine.[2] In 2020, Carr became a founding member of the Association of Black Gastroenterologists and Hematologists.[2] In 2021, she became a fellow of the American College of Physicians.[2] The same year, Carr participated in public service announcements to encourage vaccinations among communities of color.[6]
