🎤 The Patient’s Voice — Beyond the Microscope

At our recent Patient Expert Training Programme graduation, we shared many special moments — but one in particular touched everyone in the room. Shulamit Burstein, a newly graduated EUPATI Fellow from Cohort 8, recited a poem she had written to express her feelings about the journey through the programme.

Her words beautifully capture what many experienced along the way — the excitement of learning, the challenges of growth, and the deep sense of connection that comes from walking this path together.

We are  delighted to share Shulamit’s poem below, as a reflection of both her personal journey and the shared spirit of the EUPATI community.

🎤 The Patient’s Voice — Beyond the Microscope

Once —
the patient was silent.
Unseen.
Only the illness filled the screen.

The body was studied,
the soul — ignored.
Data collected,
but no voice… heard.

Science spoke in distant tones,
while patients waited — all alone.
We were the subjects, never the guides,
watched through microscopes, not through eyes.

But now —
something changed.
A bridge was built.
A seat was pulled out at the research table.

Because EUPATI dared to say:
> “The patient belongs in the lab —
> not as an object, but as a voice,
> a choice,
> a mind,
> a guide.”

We are partners —
in every stage.
From vision to design,
from lab to page.

We bring the stories,
the fears,
the real.
Turning research
into something
true and clear

No longer numbers in a line —
we help define
the grand design.

Together we question,
dream, and build,
our insights turning data into field.

Thank you, EUPATI, for this call,
for breaking the walls,
for involving us all.

For showing that healing is not just found —
in labs or charts,
but in shared ground.

When patients rise and take their place,
research gains a human face.
And when science listens — side by side —
the future opens…
wide.

Thank you for this week of fire,
for knowledge, strength, and new desire.
For hearing us — the patient’s song,
and letting us belong.

Poem by – Shulamit Burstein Cohort 8