The President and Chief Scientist, Dr. Carolyn E. Schwartz, earned a bachelor's degree Magna Cum Laude (1982) in Psychology from UCLA, a master's degree in Clinical Psychology (1985) at the University of Connecticut, and a Doctor of Science degree (Sc.D., 1990) from the Harvard School of Public Health with an emphasis on Behavioral Sciences, Biostatistics, and Immunology/Cancer Biology. She did her postdoctoral training in multiple sclerosis at the Center for Neurologic Diseases of the Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School. She founded and headed the Behavioral Science Research Program (1993-1999) at Frontier Science and Technology Research Foundation (a not-for-profit research foundation), and was a member of the Psychiatry faculty at Harvard Medical School (1995-1999). She served as Associate Professor and Associate Director of Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (1999-2002); and as Adjunct Professor (part-time) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing at the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (April 2013 through March 2016).

She has directed research programs in psychometrics, injury epidemiology, and spine research. She is currently President and Chief Scientist at DeltaQuest Foundation (1999 - present) Adjunct Research Professor of Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery (2008 - present) at the Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA; and Research Staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Schwartz was the 2016 recipient of the International Society for Quality of Life Research President's Award. In 2018, the International Society for Quality of Life Research bestowed her with the distinction of Honorary Membership, entitling her to permanent complimentary membership "in recognition of an extraordinary contribution to ISOQOL and the field of Quality of Life research". In 2021, she was selected as a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and was nominated to Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society.

A specialist in outcomes research and measurement development, her interdisciplinary and methodological research focuses on understanding what patients can do to have an impact on the course of their disease and their well being. Her work has spanned a number of diseases and conditions, including aging, asthma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, depression, diabetes, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart disease, hemorrhoid disease, hemophilia, multiple sclerosis/neurologic, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, rheumatoid arthritis, end-stage renal disease, and spinal disorders.

Dr. Schwartz has developed or assisted in the development of tools to measure a number of constructs, including assessment tools to measure appraisal, cognitive reserve, reserve-building activities, impairment and disability, self-efficacy, illness distress, coping flexibility, quality of care, preference, sense of control, concept of a good death, health care providers' death anxiety, proxy-reported disability, and quality of life at the end of life. DeltaQuest owns the copyright for several of these measures. See the Measurement Tools page for more information.

DeltaQuest Foundation has been the recipient of grants or subcontracts from the Department of Defense, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the National Cancer Institute, the Patient- Centered Outcome Research Institute, Alexion, Biogen, Bioverativ, Sarepta, and Sobi, among others, and has research contracts with academic institutions in the USA and Canada. Its current research is generally related to the following areas:

• Theoretical and methodological foundations to address response shift phenomenon (i.e., adaptation) in longitudinal quality-of-life research;
• Patient-centered outcome tools and assessment methods developed with methods from classical test theory and item response theory with applications for clinical, rehabilitation, pharmacoeconomic, and end-of-life care research;
• Qualitative research to understand behavioral processes in quality of life.

Dr. Schwartz is the Emeritus Co-Editor-in-Chief of Quality of Life Research, having served as Co-Editor-in-Chief from 2009 to 2017. She was an Associate Editor for Quality of Life Research (2003-2007), and has also served as on the editorial board of Psychosomatic Medicine, the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, and the Journal of Happiness Studies. She has served on several NIH grant review panels to review program project grants and small business innovative research grants. She is an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals and international granting agencies. She is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and of the Association for Psychological Science, and was a Fellow of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers from 2009-2010. She has served on the Council of the American Psychosomatic Society, on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL), and on the Quality of Life Science Advisory Committee for the American Cancer Society. Her publications span the fields of behavioral medicine, health services research, neurology, oncology, physiatry, and orthopaedics.