From child brain development research to Capitol Hill advocacy
Graduate student Blakely Lockhart has been named an Early Career Policy Ambassador by the Society for Neuroscience, the world’s largest organization of brain and nervous system researchers.
Blakely Lockhart represented the Society for Neuroscience as an Early Career Policy Ambassador during its annual Capitol Hill Day in March. She is the fourth Virginia Tech translational biology, medicine, and health graduate student working at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute to be selected. Photo by Lena Ayuk for Virginia Tech.
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.
Beginning with Capitol Hill Day, the Society for Neuroscience’s 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.
From brain research to the campaign trail
What should you do after college? If you’re Lockhart, the answer might be to run for office.
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.
The 17,000 votes she garnered solidified her commitment to policy advocacy.
From state elections to Virginia Tech
After the campaign, Lockhart decided to continue her neuroscience education.
“I definitely wanted to continue pursuing research, but from a policy lens, I wanted the greater impact,” Lockhart said. “It's vital to study these individual mechanisms and molecules, but what is the impact? And how can we translate it to the community?”
Her shift from political engagement back to scientific inquiry led Lockhart to Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, where she joined the lab of Associate Professor Brittany Howell. Eventually, she enrolled as a doctoral student in the university’s Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program.
“I 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,” Howell said. “As 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.”
From neurodevelopment research to science advocacy
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.
In collaboration with other Fralin Biomedical Research Institute researchers, Lockhart is designing a device to take precise measurements of infant feeding habits as part of her studies of the human milk microbiome. Photo by Lena Ayuk for Virginia Tech.
“From a scientific perspective, I want to know what in human milk is supporting that growth and development,” Lockhart said. “But 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.”
Science and policy often intersect. Lockhart said she hopes to explore how this intersection can contribute to medical progress and reduce barriers to care.
“The ambassadors are all in neuroscience, but the brain is so complex that we have so many different specialties represented as well,” Lockhart said. “We’re 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.”
Also appointed as ambassadors are 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.