With a perspective shaped by lived experience and developmental science, Anna Katalifos focuses on how research can better inform real-world supports, environments, and shared decision-making with neurodivergent individuals and their families.
Anna Katalifos is a TACC Trainee Member and PhD student in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. Drawing on her experience as a caregiver, her work centres on connecting scientific evidence with lived and living experience to inform policies, practices, and environments that support autonomy, self-determination, and quality of life.
“I’m always going to have the caregiver perspective.That’s something I value and want to bring into my future work and into the community.” Watch Anna’s reflections, recorded at TACC’s 2025 Member Assembly.
(Production: Noah Leon)
What first drew you to neurodevelopmental research?
Katalifos: My path into developmental research began in 2017 when I joined Dr. Mayada Elsabbagh’s Resilience and Neurodevelopment Lab at The Neuro as a CÉGEP student volunteer. While I was drawn to learning more about developmental science and research methodologies, my interest was rooted in my caregiver experience. As the older sister to an autistic teen, I wanted to understand how scientific evidence could be translated into substantive, practical strategies to help support my brother’s autonomy, communication, and social development.
Once I joined the lab, my passion for neurodevelopmental research expanded, especially as I began to work closely with autistic self-advocates and fellow TACC members. Those experiences helped clarify for me how closely research questions are tied to whose perspectives are included in the work.
How do your lived experience and research training come together in your work?
Katalifos: My experiences as big sister and caregiver have fundamentally shaped my identity as a scientist. In applied settings, such as schools, I have leveraged my research training to implement evidence-based pedagogical strategies with autistic students. Experiences like these have taught me that, when we modify our environments to respond to neurodivergent students’ needs (e.g., finding communication approaches that are strengths-based, structuring tasks to support their self-determination), interventions succeed.
I believe that these successes are demonstrations of what becomes possible when we centre supports in neurodiversity values. This principle, that the community itself holds essential expertise and creativity, is what drives my work.
What kinds of change are you hoping your work will support?
Katalifos: I hope to contribute to scholarship and practice by narrowing the gap between scientific evidence and lived experience. Specifically, I’m interested in leveraging research methodologies to develop tools and frameworks that are co-designed with members of the neurodivergent community and their families.
My goal is to go beyond disseminating findings, ensuring that scientific knowledge translates into systems, policies, and practices that enhance inclusion, accessibility, and self-determination for neurodivergent people.
Watch Anna’s presentation from the ECHO-Autism Series: Topics in Neurodevelopment (2024), where she shares how research and caregiving can inform one another.
How has being part of TACC influenced how you approach your work?
Katalifos: I had the honour of working for TACC for six years, and the network (along with the team) have played a formative role in my development as a researcher and caregiver. TACC’s unique, integrated approach treats scientific discovery, capacity building, and community engagement as priorities that are fundamentally interconnected. This model has shaped how I understand the responsibilities of developmental science. Defining development, what counts as meaningful outcomes, and how knowledge is created and shared, require collaborative decision-making across researchers, practitioners, and community members.
TACC also provides mentorship and collaborative opportunities that have been invaluable as a trainee navigating the field. As I transition into new professional roles, I’m grateful for the foundation the network has provided and look forward to continuing my involvement.
Connect with Anna
Anna is open to collaboration. Learn more about her work on ResearchGate, connect via LinkedIn, or email her directly at anna.katalifos@mail.mcgill.ca.