Caroline Harkins McCarty, PhD, OTR/L

Caroline Harkins McCarty’s work focuses on supports for children with disabilities and their families. Her scholarship interests include foster care and adoption, family routines, and occupational justice. She teaches coursework related to pediatric practice, leadership, advocacy and ethics.

Caroline obtained her PhD in Occupational Science and her Postdoctoral Fellow in Translational Research from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her clinical practice experience has included full time work as a school-based practitioner and clinic-based work with children with developmental disabilities. She especially loves working with children in their everyday contexts of families and schools.

Dr. McCarty has been involved in occupational therapy education for three years in the Master’s Occupational Therapy Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has clinical experience in school-based occupational therapy in the Durham Public School in North Carolina.

In addition, Dr. McCarty worked as a faculty mentor at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disability. She has taught several courses across the curriculum, including pediatric evaluation and treatment, history of occupational therapy, occupational science and problem-based learning. She has served as the primary research advisor for research groups and is currently working on a project entitled Coming Home: An occupational perspective on adoption and family routines. Her service activities range from expert reviewer with the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders Evidence Based Practice Review, Practitioner Mentor with the Durham Public Schools, and admission reviewer at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Master’s Program in Occupational Therapy Admissions committee.

In addition, her service work supports the transition of children and adopting families.