Tak-Shun (Daniel) Choi, MD, FCAP, AASJC
An American clinical pathologist, medical educator, scholar of comparative religion and philosophy, Christian thought writer, composer, and multimedia creator.
MD — Doctor of Medicine (from the Latin Medicinae Doctor, meaning “Teacher of Medicine”)
FCAP — Fellow of the College of American Pathologists
AASJC — An Adopted Son in Jesus Christ
“In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:3–7, ESV)
My life in brief
- Engineer first: Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science with Highest Honors and a grade point average of 3.99 out of 4.00 in 1986 (the one B was in a one-credit badminton class); then one year of doctoral study in biomedical engineering at Rutgers, with a grade point average of 4.00 out of 4.00.
- MD summa cum laude, with Distinction in Research, 1993, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn (now SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University).
- Board certified in Clinical Pathology and in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine; fellowship in transfusion medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital and UT Southwestern (1998–1999).
- Clinical pathologist. Medical Director of the Transfusion Medicine Unit, VA North Texas Health Care System (1999–2021); Director of the Ancillary Testing, Chemistry, Urinalysis, and Toxicology sections (2007–2021).
- Alumni Achievement Award in Pathology, SUNY Downstate (May 2018).
- Assistant Professor of Pathology (1999–2007) and Associate Professor of Pathology (2007–2021), UT Southwestern Medical School.
- Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on October 12, 2021; retired that December.
- Founder (and janitor) of Mutiara Multimedia LLC (October 2024): writing, music, film, and digital media in the service of the gospel, life education, and cross-cultural exchange.
How I write now
ALS has taken my ability to type. Five years after my diagnosis, God has left me the index and middle fingers of my right hand to click a mouse, and He has left me my voice.
So I write by speaking, with the help of AI. I have used AI tools since early 2026, and lately mainly Claude by Anthropic, and I am not ashamed of that (2 Timothy 2:15). My first book, Life Is Eternal — Does Jesus Know You? A Sojourner’s Journey to Eternity, took me a year. Now, by God’s grace, many books and songs have come in a fraction of that time.
AI offers answers; the judgment is still mine. I decide what goes in and what is left out, and my name on each book is my signature. I stand behind every word.
But the work is not mine. Apart from Christ I can do nothing; I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13). Whatever readers make of my books, this is who I am: a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, and He is my Commander (Joshua 5:13–15).
In the darkness of ALS I have met the Light, and the Light is God. He is the fountain; I am only a channel, a vessel, a platform on which He shows His glory, so that His blessings may reach others.
Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be all the glory!
My Testimony
All twelve videos from the testimony visit
- 2022.5.31 Jesus Loves Me Very Much (耶穌好愛我)
- 1. Pastor Chung’s prayer before Daniel shares his testimony
- 2. Daniel’s testimony, part 1: Jesus Loves Me Very Much (Cantonese)
- 3. Daniel’s testimony, part 1: Jesus Loves Me Very Much (Mandarin)
- 4. Daniel’s testimony: Jesus Loves Me Very Much (English, Cantonese)
- 5. Daniel adds two songs: “God Is on the Stormy Road, God Is with Me” and “Turn Back” (paraphrased)
- 6. Daniel’s testimony, part 2: Jesus Loves Me Very Much, Experiencing God’s Faithfulness Throughout Life (Cantonese)
- 7. Daniel’s feelings after sharing his testimony
- 8. Daniel’s testimony, part 2: Jesus Loves Me Very Much, Experiencing God’s Faithfulness Throughout Life (Mandarin)
- 9. Daniel’s testimony: Jesus Loves Me So — Experiencing God’s Faithfulness All My Life (English)
- 10. Pastor Chung’s closing prayer
- 11. Before saying farewell, Pastor Chung led Daniel’s whole family in prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Article
The Life Is Eternal Series
Life Is Eternal — Does Jesus Know You? A Sojourner’s Journey to Eternity (2024) is now being updated and expanded into a memoir in seven volumes. The series also includes the books below.
The FUTURE Series
Christian hope: what the Bible says about the return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, the judgment, and the new heavens and new earth. Each view is laid out fairly and tested by the same rules.
The LIGHT Series
Medical guides for patients and families, with songs
The TRUTH Series
How to read the evidence in medicine, in plain words
The JUDGMENT Series
AI has answers. People have judgment.
Artificial intelligence can now draft a medical note, a sermon, a dissertation, a screenplay, a financial plan. Each book in this series takes one field and asks the same question: what may the machine do, and what must a person still decide, sign, and answer for?
Every book tests AI in its field by the six marks of HEROES:
H — Hold your ground. Know your field well enough to catch the machine when it is wrong.
E — Engage your power. Use the tool with purpose, not fear: give it context, ask, refine.
R — Review, review, review. Check the facts, the context, and the consequences before you trust, share, or act.
O — Omit the garbage. Remove what is wrong, irrelevant, biased, or unnecessary.
E — Exercise judgment. Decide what matters, and answer for the outcome.
S — Share your power. Teach others to question and use AI well.
The second E is the heart of the series. A machine can give answers. Only a person can judge, and only a person can answer for the judgment. In the end, each of us will give an account of himself to God (Romans 14:12).
Emptiness · Suffering · Longing 《空．苦．情》
Comparative religion: how seven traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism) respond to the core experiences of human life, each treated on equal terms. One question runs through every book: 我是誰, “Who am I?”
The ARC Series
Three volumes on the places people built where building should not have been possible, and on what the building tells us about ourselves. Every place is asked the same four questions, and the last is never skipped: what can we actually tell about why, and where does the evidence stop?