I'm an educator and writer, and also a lover of sports, music, language, and travel. I'm originally from the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, where I grew up playing sports nonstop. I went to Catholic schools from grade 1 through college at Georgetown University. To date I have taught in seven countries (US, Panama, Costa Rica, China, Switzerland, Spain, England), including in several international schools (including three IB schools and a British-curriculum school) and five colleges and universities.

You can find details of my work experience, certifications, and other info on my LinkedIn page
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertthornett/

I was born with a congenital heart defect called a myocardial bridge that was first diagnosed in 2018 when I was 44 and living in China. I had unroofing surgery (aka myotomy) for this condition at Stanford University in December 2018, which was only partially successful, and another surgery in 2024 at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, in which myocardial bridges were found on six different coronary arteries, all of which were unroofed. Myocardial bridging is a highly misunderstood condition, and I'm very active as a researcher and administrator of the Facebook Myocardial Bridge Support Group, which spreads knowledge about it. I also wrote the myocardial bridge Wikipedia page, which Stanford University reviewed. The Myocardial Bridge Support Group on Facebook has expanded from a few hundred members when I joined in 2018 to now over 2600.

If you see something that interests you or have a question or ideas to discuss, drop me a line at this email.