Kanika Jain, PhD, and Kaixin Liang, PhD, have both received 2025 JH Milstone Awards which are given annually to support early-stage investigators and innovative research that improves understanding of bleeding, thrombosis, or thrombolysis. Dr. Jain is an associate research scientist in the lab of John Hwa, MD, PhD, FRACP, professor of medicine (cardiology), co-director, Yale Cooperative Center of Excellence in Hematology, and Dr. Liang is a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Esen Sefik, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Immunobiology.

Dr. Jain’s research project is titled “UPR Modulation as a therapeutic strategy to mitigate platelet dysfunction in CVD” and aims to uncover a safer antiplatelet therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Dr. Liang’s project, “Mechanism of COVID-19 Associated Coagulopathy Using Humanized Mice,” uses humanized mouse models with human immune and lung cells to study how SARS-CoV-2 causes blood clotting and thromboembolism with the hope of understanding the mechanisms behind these effects, develop treatments, and test if the model can be used to study long COVID.

Leonard Milstone, MD, Professor Emeritus of and Senior Research Scientist in Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine, set-up the JH Milstone Award in honor of his late father, J. Haskell Milstone, MD, who taught pathology and blood coagulation to a generation of medical students and residents at Yale and advocated strongly for better treatment for those with hemophilia.