A STORY OF MAN'S OBEDIENCE AND GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

Joseph grew up a typical pastor’s kid. But when he got into a prestigious med school after rejections by everywhere else he applied, he sensed that God had a plan for him.   

His eyes were opened to the needs of the developing world while he was serving a year in a refugee camp in Thailand during residency. And so Joseph decided to specialize in infectious disease. After post-graduate training, an opportunity opened to join the faculty at UC Irvine. It was a promising career: he would be conducting pivotal research on the treatment of HIV at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

Joseph’s wife Eugenia was also doing well as an engineer. But through the Urbana missions conference and the influence of their missions-oriented home church, Joseph and Eugenia were open to mission. As they prayed, news came in late 80’s that a HIV epidemic was exploding in Thailand. 

In early 1991, Joseph and Eugenia resigned from their positions, raised full support, and joined an international Christian relief and development organization. With their two children, the family moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand to establish a center for community-based HIV testing and counseling and AIDS prevention, and to mobilize the Thai church in AIDS education and care. Their work was presented at the International AIDS Conference in Berlin. 

4 years later, the U.S. government started a HIV vaccine development project in their city. Joseph was hired to lead this project because of his proven track record of working with the local people, as well as his clinical trial experience. He became a self-supporting tentmaker.

Over the next 5 years, Joseph trained many nationals on the conduct of regulated clinical trials and completed several HIV vaccine trials in Thai population. But the time came for him to return to the U.S. to care for his widowed father, as he was the only son.

While completing his MPH at Harvard after returning to the US, Joseph was hired by the NIH’s HIV vaccine research program because of his international research experience. He also guided research in the avian flu and tuberculosis vaccine and received many awards. After retirement from the NIH, he continued to do consulting work on vaccine projects in developing countries till 2019. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Joseph has been able to offer his services to his local community.  

Eugenia became a school teacher and lay church youth worker after the family returned to the US. Their two grown children are now married and both active in ministry. 

Reflecting on their life journey, Joseph said, “We never had a must-have or must-not-have list in following God’s leading.”

Joseph is a founding board member of our ministry. His father is the late Reverend Stephen Chiu who founded the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston. Eugenia’s father is Elder Bellman Lin, Principal of Christian Testimony, Inc., NY.