Jeremy Courtney

Courtney founded the Preemptive Love Coalition to eradicate the swelling backlog of Iraqi children in need of corrective heart surgery and to train a new generation of Iraqi medical professionals.

You can listen to his talk on our audio streaming website.

Idealists bring the power of conviction and passion to their work; pragmatists concentrate on solutions to meet their goals. Although it’s not usually a black-and-white situation, it is unusual to find a balance of both attributes in one person. Jeremy Courtney is one of those rare people.

Courtney, one of the founders of the Preemptive Love Coalition (PLC), will give a presentation on “Reconciliation through Healing” for the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, in May Auditorium, located in Simon Hall on the Danforth Campus.

Armed with a stunningly simple philosophy — if violence tears apart worlds, physical healing has the power to rebuild them — Courtney, along with his wife, Jessica, and friend Cody Fisher, have been helping citizens of Iraq rebuild a world that was shattered first under Saddam Hussein’s brutal rule, then under outside forces that continue today.

For a number of reasons, Iraqis have suffered from a dearth of doctors, but the hardest hit has been its most vulnerable population: children.

Courtney founded the PLC to eradicate the swelling backlog of Iraqi children in need of corrective heart surgery and to train a new generation of Iraqi medical professional. He and his team believe that in the midst of violence they have the opportunity to provide healing, which opens the doors to reconciliation.

Courtney leverages a background in business with several years’ experience working cross-culturally to create solutions for Iraq’s pediatric needs.

Working with Iraqi leaders, he has established groundbreaking surgical missions throughout the country. Thanks to his team’s efforts, the PLC has saved countless little lives and has provided Iraqi medical professionals with more than 30,000 hours of hands-on training — and the continued opportunity to reconcile through healing.

He is the author of Preemptive Love: Pursuing Peace One Heart at a Time (Simon & Schuster, Howard Books), his family’s true-life story of saving lives, pursuing peace, and remaking the world through healing in Iraq.