Martine Ehrenclou, M.A., is an award-winning author, patient advocate and speaker.  Her first book, Critical Conditions: The Essential Hospital Guide To Get Your Loved One Out Alive received 15 book awards.  In her newest health book, The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get The Best Medical Care, Martine empowers readers to become proactive and effective participants in their own health care.  Her mission is to bring to light the importance of being an advocate for oneself and others. Through her books, media interviews, articles, blog, and lectures, Martine Ehrenclou reveals insider information on how to interact effectively with medical professionals and navigate the health care system.

Six months into her research for The Take-Charge Patient, Martine developed debilitating, chronic pain that lasted sixteen months and used every strategy in her new book. She went from an advocate for others to an advocate for herself, and became her own take-charge patient. After eleven doctors failed to diagnose her correctly, Martine's exhaustive research led her to the surgeon who diagnosed her and cured her.  She has been pain free for over a year. 

Martine regularly publishes articles on the topics of patient empowerment, patient advocacy, patient safety, successful communication in medical encounters, the collaborative relationship between patients and medical professionals, and other health/medical related issues. She is interviewed regularly on national TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, including NBC News, ABC News, KCAL 9 News, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Los Angeles Times Magazine and many more. Martine also lectures at universities, hospitals, and health organizations, and writes a blog.

Martine has a master's degree in psychology from Pepperdine University.  Prior to becoming a health writer and patient advocate, Martine was a journalist, ghostwriter and public relations professional. She created and ran a writing program for at-risk teenagers.  Her personal experience with loved ones with extended hospitalizations changed her career path in 2001.

Visit her at her websites, www.TheTakeChargePatient.com  and  www.CriticalConditions.com