What Is It About Medical Writing?

In other words, why is medical science interesting to you? Why is it something you’re inspired to write about?

For me, my family has a prevalent history of autoimmune disorders (Graves’ disease, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis just to name a few), which probably sparked an interest going back to my childhood. I grew up learning about the different kinds of medicines my mother took, and why she took them. I was fortunate to have parents who took the trouble to explain how things worked to me, rather than assuming that because I was a child, I didn’t need to know (or couldn’t understand). Curiosity and learning were fostered.

Now that I have my own kids, both they and my husband have a host of severe food allergies, furthering what has morphed into a complete interest in immunology. One day, perhaps I can specialize in that. I wonder: Could there be an evolutionary purpose to allergic reactions and autoantibodies, which ordinarily seem like a useless nuisance? Do our bodies simply get confused, or do these functions actually become advantageous in certain situations? Have they already benefitted us in ways we don’t yet understand? Hypothetically beneficial or not, how can we learn to better treat and manage these immune reactions?