Stanford University  News Service    CONTACT: Stanford
University News Service (415) 723-2558   Liliana Macri is
planning a trip to Italy this fall. She is looking forward to
seeing her extended family, with whom she shares far more than
traditions, mannerisms and physical features. The 23- year-old
has beta thalassemia, a blood disorder that afflicts two of her
cousins and countless others of Mediterranean descent all over
the world.  Macri's disease is directly linked to her heritage.
As ethnic groups enter the United States, physicians learn about
a growing group of diseases that affect specific populations,
ranging from hemoglobin disorders to cystic fibrosis and
diabetes to Tay-Sachs. The more science uncovers about human
genetics, the more apparent it is that patients' ethnic origins
can provide valuable insights and clues in the diagnosis and
treatment of such diseases. "Many disorders we see every day are
ones that we only used to read about in textbooks," says Dr.
Bertil Glader, a pediatric hematolog