Dr. Mandy McGeachy is assistant professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh.  In this episode, she discusses autoimmune diseases. The immune system is designed to protect us from invading microbes and in most of us it does a fantastic job of preventing us from getting sick for most of our lives. However, sometimes this protective shield can turn against us, and when this happens it is referred to as autoimmune disease.  Dr. McGeachy discusses autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis: what causes the good guys (our immune system) to go bad?   She talks about one particular component of the immune system that is the focus of her research, Th17 cells, and how these cells play an important role in autoimmune disease. Dr. McGeachy also shares her thoughts about how to balance work and life as a professional woman.

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