Background

Carter was born on December 25, 1944 in San Francisco, California, United States; the daughter of Merton Robert Carter and Helen Frances Carter.

Education

Carter received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drury College in 1966. Three years later she was given a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Arkansas.

Career

Carter began her career as an assistant professor and professor at the University of Illinois in 1972. Thirteen years later she became a professor at the University of Maryland. Since 2014 Carter has been a director at Kinsey Institute of Indiana University and a Rudy professor of biology at the same university. Also she is a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, where she co-directed the Brain-Body Center in the Department of Psychiatry.

She examined the role of oxytocin and vasopressin in mental disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.

Achievements

• Carter is known for her research on the physiological basis of social behavior, including studies that implicated oxytocin, vasopressin and hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the traits of monogamy including pair-bond formation.
  
  She pioneered the physiological study of socially monogamous mammals, including the prairie vole.

Membership

Carter is a member of American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a president of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.

Connections

On June 12, 1970 Carter married Stephen William Porges. They have two children.

Father:

Merton Robert

Mother:

Helen Frances Carter

Spouse:

Stephen William Porges

child:

Eric Carter Porges

child:

Seth Carter Porges