Georgetown Learning Community – Course Descriptions

John F. Haught (Ph. D. Catholic University, 1970) is Distinguished Research Professor, Georgetown University, Washington DC. He was formerly Professor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University (1970-2005) and Chair (1990-95). His area of specialization is systematic theology, with a particular interest in issues pertaining to science, cosmology, evolution, ecology, and religion. Among the books he published are Resting on the Future: Catholic Theology for an Unfinished Universe (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2015), Science and Faith: A New Introduction (New York: Paulist Press, 2012), Making Sense of Evolution: Darwin, God, and The Drama of Life (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, February 2010) and God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens (Louisville: 2003). He lectures internationally on many issues related to science and religion. In 2002 he was the winner of the Owen Garrigan Award in Science and Religion and in 2004 the Sophia Award for Theological Excellence and in Fall 2008 he held the D’Angelo Chair in the Humanities at St. John’s University in New York City. In April 2009 he received an honorary doctorate from Louvain University, Belgium.

Carlos A. Suárez-Quian, Ph.D., is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. His teaching expertise is in clinical gross anatomy, where he served as gross anatomy discipline director of the first- and fourth-year medical school curriculum for over 20 years. He is also a published textbook author, speaker, visiting faculty member, and consultant on clinical gross anatomy programs around the world. Dr. Suárez-Quian was a funded research scientist with a concentration in cell and molecular biology, during which time he published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including for a technique he pioneered called “laser capture microdissection”. He was a founding member and co-director of the Georgetown Medical Center Mini Medical School Program for over 25 years. Dr. Suárez-Quian served as one of 15 national judges for the annual Regeneron Science Competition (formerly Intel) that awards over 1.5 million in scholarships to high school seniors, now in its 78th year.

Dr. Suárez-Quian’s teaching awards include the Golden Apple and the Geza Illes Award in Gross Anatomy, and the Kaiser-Permanente Teaching Award granted by his faculty peers. In May 2008, Dr. Suárez-Quian was inducted into the MAGIS Society of Master Teachers, the highest award Georgetown bestows on a faculty member at the Medical School. He is the author of the Online Guided Gross Anatomy Dissector (Oxford University Press, 2014), and co-author of The Clinical Anatomy of the Cranial Nerves, by J.A. Vilensky, W.M. Robertson and C.A. Suárez-Quian (Wiley, 2015). He published the eight-book series of All-in-One Anatomy Exam Review: Image-Based Questions and Answers with his co-author, Dr. Vilensky. He is also the co-author of Functional Anatomy for Occupational Therapy (Books of Discovery Press, 2022), now in over 140 programs nationwide.

A native of La Habana, Cuba, Dr. Suárez-Quian came to the United States as a political refugee when he was seven years old. He is the son of Andrés Suárez and Hortensia Quian. He grew up in Miami and Gainesville, Florida, earned his B.S. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, did his graduate work at the Harvard University Medical School, and his post-doctorate work at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Despite being Cuban, he does not enjoy cigars.

Frank Ambrosio is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Georgetown University. After studies in Italian language and literature in Florence, Italy, he completed his doctoral degree at Fordham University with a specialization in contemporary European Philosophy.

He is the founding Director, with Edward Maloney, of the Georgetown University “My Dante Project”, a web-based platform for personal and collaborative study of Dante’s Commedia. In 2014, he acted as lead instructor for the launch of an ongoing web-based course (MOOC) on Dante offered by EDX (http://dante.georgetown.edu), which currently has been utilized by over 20,000 students. He has received five separate awards from Georgetown University for excellence in teaching. He is the former Director of the Doctor of Liberal Studies Program, and in 2015, he received the Award for Faculty Achievement from the American Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs. His most recent book is Dante and Derrida: Face to Face (State University of New York Press). In 2009, The Great Courses Program issued his 36-lecture course, Philosophy, Religion and the Meaning of Life.

Victoria Pedrick received her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati and her BA from Emory University. She primarily taught courses in Greek and Latin language and literature, with a particular interest in Archaic and Classical Greek literature and culture. She also taught an introduction to Classical myth. In all her courses, she encourages students to focus on the audience and cultural contexts for ancient texts, including, when appropriate, modern engagement. She has published essays on Homer, Greek Tragedy, and Latin Lyric as well as two volumes on tragedy, one a collection of essays and the other a study of Euripides and Freud. This book studies the construction of identity within the context of originary or primal trauma as it is articulated in Euripides’ Ion and Freud’s case history of the Wolfman. She is currently writing a book on Greek myths about human violations against nature, including the cardinal cultural act of sailing, the deliberate desecration of sacred trees, and the wholly unnatural act of flying.

Suzanne Bronheim is an Adjunct Associate Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has been on the faculty of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD) (now the THRIVE Center), for the past 50 years and has served in many capacities. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialization in child and pediatric psychology. Dr. Bronheim has published widely on issues related to psychosocial needs of children and youth with chronic and fatal illnesses and creating coordinated community-based services to serve them and their families. She has provided clinical services and consultation for children and adults with an array of disabilities and special health care needs.

As a Senior Policy Associate within the National Center for Cultural Competence over the past 20 years, she has provided training and technical assistance to state Title V programs, state SIDS and infant mortality programs, non-profit organizations, health care providers, and public health workers on addressing cultural and linguistic competence in systems, services, and supports. Dr. Bronheim has written and produced effective products for the field and implemented research about the role of cultural and linguistic competence, self-assessment tools and processes, and the impact of bias on health and mental health disparities.