Christa Heyward is currently a fellow in the Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office, where she is contributing to the buildings envelope portfolio. Before joining BTO, Christa applied her expertise in immunology and cell and molecular biology to investigating the role of the immune system in disease pathology. She has studied how tumor cells hide from the immune system, how immune cells regulate tolerance during pregnancy, and when immune cell dysfunction leads to autoimmune disease. In 2017, Christa co-founded Bramante Bioscience, a company developing a diagnostic technology for traumatic brain injury. Christa worked with her partners to generate preliminary data, secure relationships with legal, research, and startup incubator stakeholders and apply and receive ~$4M in funding from the Department of Defense. After navigating her exit from Bramante, Christa transitioned to GSK, where she gained additional insights into the drug development pipeline as well has various non-research aspects of the pharmaceutical industry such as government relations and medical communications.