Vienna, Austria · Writing · Teaching · Patient Advocate

I help people say what systems made unsayable.

For spoonies navigating medicine. Carers made invisible in the room. Healthcare professionals who went in to connect and ended up somewhere else. People who are somehow all three at once.

The Work About Roi
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Who I Am
Roi Shternin
Roi Shternin
Based Vienna, Austria
Countries Spoken in 27
Taught 15,000 people · 20,000 HCPs
Books 7 published
Counseling LSB License 2026
Languages English · Hebrew · German

I was sick for ten years. Seven of them bedridden.

The medical system didn't know what to do with me. So it did what systems do with things they can't categorize: it made me invisible.

I became obsessed with that. Not bitterly — curiously. Why do people with something real to say go unheard? What actually happens in the gap between what someone feels and what they can say out loud in a room that has power over them?

That's not my backstory. That's my qualification.

I've spent fifteen years inside that question. Training 20,000 healthcare professionals. Teaching 15,000 people — most of them sick, exhausted, dismissed — how to speak when everything is working against them. Advising pharma companies. Speaking in 27 countries. Writing seven books. Being the first patient ever placed inside a medical research institute not as a subject but as a voice.

I still have ME/CFS. I still have POTS. I still know what it is to perform wellness you don't feel, in rooms that need you to be fine.

I work with spoonies who need to advocate for themselves. Carers who've become invisible in the room. Healthcare professionals who went into medicine to connect and ended up somewhere else. People who are somehow all three at once.

The work is always the same: find what the system made unsayable. Say it.

I run intensives in Vienna. I write at Chronically when I have something real to say. I teach when people are ready to learn.

I'm not performing recovery. I'm not selling transformation. I'm just doing the work, honestly, for people who need it.

Online Learning

The ABC of Speaking

Learn to speak when your body won't cooperate. For people with chronic illness, healthcare professionals, patient advocates, or anyone speaking from a place of vulnerability.

📚
Self-Paced Learning
Complete modules at your own pace. Lifetime access to all materials.
🎯
Practical & Applied
Not theory. Real techniques for speaking when everything works against you.
👥
15,000+ Students
Proven methods. Tested by thousands of speakers worldwide.
What you'll learn:
  • Finding your voice when illness makes it feel impossible
  • Structuring talks that work with limited energy
  • Advocacy communication for medical settings
  • Public speaking fundamentals adapted for chronic illness
  • Telling your story without performing wellness you don't feel
Complete Course
€97
One-time payment · Lifetime access
Enroll Now →
30-day money-back guarantee. No questions asked.
What Rooms Say
"Not like a stranger. Like a brother. He said what I have been living but could never articulate."
LinkedIn — following a post on chronic illness and performance
"I've been performing recovery for ten years. I didn't have a name for it until this talk."
Audience member — organizational empathy conference
"I thought this wasn't going to be relevant to me. It was the most relevant talk of the day. I left thinking about three people I manage differently."
Senior Leader — Healthcare organization
"He touched something that most speakers are paid to leave alone. The room was completely still."
Conference organizer — European patient advocacy summit
Services

Four ways
to work together.

No services menu. No packages. These are the four things I do — each one approached honestly, in formats that don't drain either of us.

01 — Writing
Chronically

Essays about illness, voice, body, and the gap between what we feel and what we can say. Written when I have something real to say — not on a schedule, not for an algorithm.

Free to read. Subscribe if you want to know when something new appears. No newsletter. No funnel. Just writing.
Read Chronically →
02 — Teaching
Vienna Intensives

Public speaking and storytelling intensive for people navigating chronic illness, caregiving, or healthcare work. Small group. Three days. In person. For people navigating chronic illness, caregiving, or healthcare — and the communication challenges that come with all three.

Max 15 people. Announced here and on LinkedIn when dates are set. No booking system, no waitlist machinery. Just: this is happening, here's how to join.
Join the next intensive →
03 — Counseling
One to One

From 2026: individual sessions as a licensed LSB practitioner. Working specifically with people whose sense of self, story, and voice has been disrupted by illness or trauma.

Waitlist open now. Write to me directly. No intake form, no automated response. Just an email.
Join the waitlist →
04 — Speaking
Keynotes & Workshops

Patient expert keynote speaker. Select keynotes per year. Only when the talk feels true. For healthcare organizations, patient advocacy summits, pharma, and conferences where the work actually matters.

Three core talks: The Invisible Patient (signature keynote, any audience), The Narrative Body (medical/clinical), Voice Recovery (workshop format). Booked through AAE Speakers Bureau or direct inquiry.
View speaking sheet →
A note on consulting

If you're a healthcare organization or pharmaceutical company looking for patient perspective work or communication training — I do occasionally take on engagements. Only if approached, only for serious work. Write to me directly and we'll see if it makes sense.

The Books

Seven books.
One unflinching voice.

Spanning chronic illness, patient rights, healthcare AI, and the body's hidden architecture. An eighth is in progress.

Revolution From My Bed
Revolution From My Bed
Revolution From My Bed
Regain Control of Your Life as a Patient
What Do Patients Want?
What Do Patients Want?
What Do Patients Want?
A Guide for Healthcare Professionals
The Algorithm Will See You Now
The Algorithm Will See You Now
The Algorithm Will See You Now
Shadow AI in Healthcare
The Little Book of Patient Communication
The Little Book of Patient Communication
The Little Book of Patient Communication
For Healthcare Professionals
The ABC of Public Speaking
The ABC of Public Speaking
The ABC of Public Speaking
A Complete Guide to Keynote & Communication
The Fascia: The Most Amazing Organ You've Never Heard About
Coming Soon
The Fascia
Coming Soon
All books on Amazon → Paperback and Kindle · Bulk orders by email
Speaking

When I have
something real to say.

I give 2–4 keynotes a year. Not more. I only speak when the talk feels true and the room feels right. If you're looking for a speaker who will tell your audience what they want to hear, I'm the wrong person.

The Invisible Patient
What actually happens when the person in front of you is performing wellness they don't feel — and what it costs everyone in the room when that goes unnamed.
Signature Keynote 45–60 min Any audience
The Narrative Body
For medical and clinical audiences. How the stories patients are allowed to tell — and the ones they are not — become measurable biological reality. Narrative medicine meets lived experience.
Medical / Clinical 30–60 min
Voice Recovery
What it actually takes to speak when everything is working against you — illness, dismissal, exhaustion, systems that weren't built for the full human inside them.
Workshop Half-day Patient / HCP audiences
Spoken in 27 countries across healthcare, pharma, tech & education
Past clients Boehringer Ingelheim · Takeda · Novartis · Google · IBM
Bureau AAE Speakers Bureau ↗
Format Keynote · Workshop · Panel · Medical Grand Rounds
Languages English · Hebrew

No speaker kit, no one-pager. Direct inquiry only. Available through AAE Speakers Bureau or hello@roishternin.com

Enquire about speaking →
Watch

TEDx Talks

What Patients Want
TEDxShanghai · Patient Innovation & Healthcare Systems
The Algorithm Will See You Now
TEDxShenkarCollege · AI, Healthcare Data & Patient Agency
Chronically
Writing without
performing it.

Essays about illness, voice, body narrative, and the gap between what we feel and what we can say. No content calendar. No algorithm. Just honest writing when there's something honest to say.

Read Chronically →
"He said what I have been living but could never articulate."
Reader — Chronically
Get in Touch
If something here
resonates — I'm here.

No contact form. No discovery call booking system. No automated response. If something on this page felt true, write to me directly. I read everything.

[email protected]