Cari McCarty

Dr. Cari McCarty is a Clinical Psychologist, Research Professor in Pediatrics and Adjunct Research Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington, and the Evaluation Lead for the University of Washington Leadership in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program. She has been on faculty at the University of Washington for the past 14 years, and has developed a research program to understand the interrelationships between mental health, physical health and alcohol and substance use disorders throughout adolescence.

She currently is leading four grants focused on screening and intervening to reduce adolescent health risk behaviors. Because health risk screenings for teens are not performed as often as is recommended, and are rarely followed by targeted risk reduction interventions, we are studying personalized feedback as a way to impact teen risk and improve clinical care. Specifically, we have developed an electronic health tool, and are studying whether it helps increase conversations between teens and healthcare providers during appointments, and helps to reduce high-risk behaviors for youth.