![Hematologist Julia Montoro (right), head of the Hematology Genetic Counseling Unit at Vall d'Hebron, and geneticist Sara Torres Esquius, chat with one of their patients, Elisabeth Carabante, and her family, on the hospital's rooftop in Barcelona.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/I44MOUZEEJFO7OSAVJ4RMQMXUE.jpg?auth=695be58196a57dc3c9f9d08daa635f321ab565d145d38d435e3fa4f640af8dee&width=414&height=233&focal=1628%2C958)
The medical detectives who search for blood disorders in family trees
The Hematological Genetic Counseling Unit at Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital – a pioneer in Spain – is researching inherited genetic alterations that make certain people more prone to blood disorders