For the next two decades following the completion of her PhD, Carey worked her way up the academic ladder from multiple post-doctoral fellowships to founding her own research lab in Neurorehabilitation and Recovery Research in the Stroke Division at the National Stroke Research Institute in 2004, which was later transferred to the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.[1] She was awarded Research Fellowships from institutions including the Australian Research Council, National Stroke Research Institute, Brain Research Institute, and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).