Joaquim Procopio de Araujo Filho has spent most of his life asking questions—first through science, and now, through story.

A Brazilian medical doctor and researcher, Joaquim earned his MD and PhD from the University of São Paulo and completed postdoctoral studies at Cornell University Medical College in New York, where he specialized in membrane biophysics. His academic career includes over 60 scientific publications in international journals, covering areas such as bioelectricity, artificial membranes, diabetes, and theoretical physiology. He’s also co-authored and edited several physiology textbooks, including Fisiologia Básica and Entendendo a Gordura.

But facts alone never tell the whole story.

My Friend Greg marks Joaquim’s first work of fiction in English, though it carries the precision and depth of someone trained to observe closely and ask what lies beneath the surface. The novel, originally published in Portuguese as Meu Amigo Greg, has been thoughtfully reimagined for a broader audience, while staying true to the heart of the original story.

At its center is a quiet question:

What happens when human emotion meets something far more intelligent—and unfamiliar?

While the characters and events belong to fiction, the questions they raise are very real. Joaquim doesn’t write to escape reality. He writes to explore the parts of it we rarely talk about—the strange, the silent, the invisible threads that shape what we think we know.

Whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, or simply someone who reads with your gut more than your head, his story might linger with you in ways you didn’t expect.