Carol’s career has embraced the public sector (as a nurse - an advisor to central government departments and agencies and as Professor of Nursing at Middlesex University); the voluntary sector (where she has established and chaired an Action Committee on Healthcare for Ethnic Minorities and directed the African Caribbean Mental Health Service in Manchester), and the private sector (where she spent several years as an organisational and personal development consultant).

She is currently Head of Equality and Diversity at NHS Employers where she is responsible for setting the agenda for supporting the NHS - the largest employer in Europe, to become an employer of choice by meeting its corporate and social responsibilities. She was awarded a CBE in the Queens 2009 Birthday Honours list for services to Equal Opportunities.

Professor Baxter has made a substantial contribution on an international basis in three areas: Providing education and training for health workers; making knowledge, research evidence and best practice accessible to health workers, policy makers and the public alike; thought and leadership in ensuring accessible and appropriate health care services to all sections of the population irrespective of their differing social and economic circumstances. She has written and edited a number of influential and well received books on in this field.

Carol is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the National Centre for Primary care Research and Development at Manchester University; Visiting Professor at University of Bradford Centre for Inclusion and Diversity and Honorary Professor in the School of Advanced Nurse Education at the University of the West Indies and Honorary member of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine.