Iliana is a psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist interested in the functional and structural reorganization of the brain during development. She uses pediatric neuroimaging techniques to investigate visual and audiovisual processes that underlie reading acquisition and how these differ in specific learning disorders, such as dyslexia. In addition, to examine the genetic contribution of sex chromosomes on brain networks of learning, she studies children with sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCA), a group of genetic disorders that are often affected by mathematical and reading disabilities. She aims to understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying sex differences in learning disabilities and psychiatric disorders that emerge during childhood and adolescence.
In national and international collaborations, Iliana has contributed to the development of digital assessments and screening tools for language and literacy skills. She is involved in developing the language assessment battery for the Zurich Learning Progress Study (LEAPS), a large longitudinal study that examines learning and education trajectories of school children from the first year of kindergarten until the end of mandatory schooling in the Canton of Zurich. She is particularly interested in understanding how sex and gender impact learning, and in developing language-independent, adaptive tools to assess reading development in children with diverse language experiences (Learning Trajectories project within the NCCR Evolving Language). She is the principal investigator of the LEarning VAriability NeTwork Exchange (LEVANTE) site in Zurich, a global research network of the Jacobs Foundation that aims to improve the understanding of variability in learning and development through coordinated data collection.
One of her further projects focuses on understanding the effects of sex steroids on reward processing during puberty. In collaboration with the Hong Lab at Stanford University, she examines effects of gender-affirming hormones on neurodevelopment in transgender youth. Understanding the role of sex hormones in brain mechanisms of reward in transgender youth and their cisgender peers may provide crucial knowledge regarding treatment and prevention of depression in teenagers. The goal of this research is to increase our understanding of transgender health, promote well-being in sexual and gender minority youth, and enable the integration of evidence about sex differences into clinical practice of child and adolescent psychiatry. This project was supported in part by a 2021 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
Keywords: pediatric neuroimaging, reading acquisition, language development, specific learning disorders, learning trajectories, digital assessments, literacy screeners, gender identity, sex differences