{"id":2352,"date":"2025-04-04T14:24:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T14:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/?p=2352"},"modified":"2025-04-04T14:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T14:37:18","slug":"from-child-brain-development-research-to-capitol-hill-advocacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/2025\/04\/04\/from-child-brain-development-research-to-capitol-hill-advocacy\/","title":{"rendered":"From child brain development research to Capitol Hill advocacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

From child brain development research to Capitol Hill advocacy<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
By<\/span> Lena Ayuk<\/a><\/div>\n

3<\/span>\u00a0Apr<\/span>\u00a02025<\/span><\/p>\n

Infant neurodevelopment researcher Blakely Lockhart is one of 10 people nationwide to be named a 2025 Early Career Policy Ambassador by the Society for Neuroscience.<\/p>\n

Beginning with Capitol Hill Day, the Society for Neuroscience\u2019s annual meeting with federal lawmakers, the ambassador program brings together emerging scientists who are eager to advocate for neuroscience research and leverage their expertise to inform policies that impact the field. Following initial outreach to Congress during Hill Day, ambassadors continue to engage with key policy officials throughout the 10-month program.<\/p>\n

From brain research to the campaign trail<\/h3>\n

What should you do after college? If you\u2019re Lockhart, the answer might be to run for office.<\/p>\n

After completing an undergraduate degree in neuroscience, Lockhart became the youngest person in state history to run for the Virginia House of Delegates. She did not win the race, but she did set a record for the most votes ever received by a Democratic candidate in the former 56th district.<\/p>\n

The 17,000 votes she garnered solidified her commitment to policy advocacy.<\/p>\n

From state elections to Virginia Tech<\/h3>\n

After the campaign, Lockhart decided to continue her neuroscience education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely wanted to continue pursuing research, but from a policy lens, I wanted the greater impact,\u201d Lockhart said. \u201cIt’s vital to study these individual mechanisms and molecules, but what is the impact? And how can we translate it to the community?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her shift from political engagement back to scientific inquiry led Lockhart to Virginia Tech\u2019s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, where she joined the lab of Associate Professor\u00a0Brittany Howell<\/a>. Eventually, she enrolled as a doctoral student in the university\u2019s\u00a0Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew from the first moment I met Blakely that she was an unstoppable force in supporting families through both her science and her advocacy. She can design a study that answers important scientific questions, while simultaneously providing compelling evidence for impactful policy,\u201d Howell said. \u201cAs her mentor, I continue to learn from her and I cannot wait to see how the lives of mothers and babies are improved through her efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

From neurodevelopment research to science advocacy<\/h3>\n

As part of her doctoral research, Lockhart studies how maternal factors impact infant brain development. This work focuses on a critical period of brain growth: the first two years of life, when approximately 80 percent of brain development occurs. During this time, infants rely heavily on either breast milk or formula for nutrition. Research has shown that neurological growth and development can differ between breastfed and formula-fed infants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cFrom a scientific perspective, I want to know what in human milk is supporting that growth and development,\u201d Lockhart said. \u201cBut from a policy perspective, I want to find ways to expand parental leave policies, since human milk is so critical during the beginning phase of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Science and policy often intersect. Lockhart said she hopes to explore how this intersection can contribute to medical progress and reduce barriers to care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ambassadors are all in neuroscience, but the brain is so complex that we have so many different specialties represented as well,\u201d Lockhart said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the early stages of our careers as scientists, and we all care deeply about our research. One of our main priorities is advocating for funding for that research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also\u00a0appointed as ambassadors<\/a>\u00a0are researchers from the University of California, Riverside; Emory University; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the University of Kansas; the University of Rochester; Stanford University; Wayne State University; the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Yale University.<\/p>\n

See original post here<\/a>. Photo by Lena Ayuk for Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From child brain development research to Capitol Hill advocacy By Lena Ayuk 3\u00a0Apr\u00a02025 Infant neurodevelopment researcher Blakely Lockhart is one of 10 people nationwide to be named a 2025 Early Career Policy Ambassador by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/BL_042025.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Jamie Holt","author_link":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/author\/jkholt\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2352"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2358,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions\/2358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}