Marie Channell (she/her/hers), is an associate professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Prof. Channell's research focuses on the development of language, cognition, and social-emotional skills in individuals with Down syndrome or other neurodevelopmental disorders associated with intellectual disability (e.g., fragile X syndrome; autism spectrum disorder), particularly during middle childhood and adolescence. Her questions are framed by how skills in these domains work together to influence everyday communication in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Prof. Channell earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Alabama in 2012. Following her Ph.D., she spent 3 years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, where she received interdisciplinary training in the Autism Research Training Program (NRSA T32, NIMH). She became an Illinois faculty member in 2015.
Prof. Channell joined IHSI as an affiliate in Dec. 2025. She is a graduate of the Emerging Research Leaders Academy and has worked with the Illinois REDCap team at IHSI on a project build for the NIH-funded study, Autism Screening Tools for Down Syndrome.
Can you describe a goal you are currently pursuing?
My goal is to learn from the firsthand experiences of young adults with Down syndrome and their families about what is working well and what are their unmet support needs. This information will guide the direction of my future research so that it addresses needs expressed by the community.
How has the focus of your research changed or evolved since you first started in the field?
My research has changed in two major ways. First, I began by taking a more traditional research approach where I reviewed the scientific literature, identified knowledge gaps, designed a study to address a gap, and recruited caregivers of children with Down syndrome to participate in the study. The recruitment process naturally involved forging deeper connections with the Down syndrome community. Now that I have more established connections, I am working with the community from the very beginning to learn about their needs and priorities and then design a research study accordingly. My most recent study was co-designed with young adults with Down syndrome as research partners.
Second, my earlier research focused on understanding and supporting communication skill development in youth with Down syndrome. Over time, as the individuals I worked with became older, I noticed that their communication skills and needs changed. This was especially noticeable when they left high school and experienced social isolation as they lost the structure of the school day and were left to navigate adulthood without a clear path. Their caregivers were asking me for advice, and I didn’t have the answers. That’s when I decided to pursue an additional line of research about the transition to adulthood and ways to support independent living and social inclusion for individuals with Down syndrome.
How is most of your research funded? Can you share how your approach to seeking funding is changing in the current funding climate?
Most of my research has been funded by the NIH, specifically the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) which has an initiative called the INvestigation of Co-occurring conditions across the Lifespan to Understand Down syndrome (INCLUDE) Project. This initiative calls for research focused on critical health and quality-of-life needs for individuals with Down syndrome. Like with all federal funding, there is much uncertainty about next steps. Right now, I’m focusing on implementing our current NIH-funded study and shared findings from our previous study.
What is something you want your colleagues to know about you or your research?
My latest research is centered on the idea that individuals with disabilities are the experts. This requires a major shift in thinking and continuous self-awareness of potential bias. It is big shift for many of the community members who I work with as well. Many of them have experienced research in a different way in which the scientists hold the expertise and ask them to participate within the research team’s framework. In my community-centered research, it is a bidirectional relationship in which the community members and academics work together as partners and learn from each other.
What would you like to know about other researchers?
What disciplines were you trained in, which disciplines does your current research intersect with, and what disciplines do you collaborate (or wish to collaborate) with?
Are there new research areas that you are interested in pursuing in the next 3 - 5 years?
I plan to continue focusing on my community-based participatory research which will naturally lead me to places I have not yet imagined.
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