Dee Unglaub Silverthorn (NC ’70)

Dee U. Silverthorn, PhD, FAPS, FAAA, FAAAS, is a pioneering physiology educator and professor emerita in the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.

Silverthorn earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Newcomb College in 1970. She then went to the Baruch Institute at the University of South Carolina for her graduate studies in marine science and received her PhD in 1973. With a teaching career spanning over 40 years, Silverthorn became a leading expert and scholar in the field of physiology. She instructed both undergraduates and medical students on the subject in both lecture and laboratory settings at the Medical University of South Carolina and UT Austin. During her tenure, Silverthorn also wrote Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach, which would go on to become the #1 best-selling human physiology textbook worldwide and is currently in its eighth edition. In addition to her teaching and research, Silverthorn is also a past president of the American Physiological Society, where she also served multiple terms as editor-in-chief of the journal, Advances in Physiology Education. She works with colleagues nationally and internationally to improve physiology education through workshops and conferences.

Silverthorn is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and honors, including the 2009 Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award from the Society for College Science Teachers, the American Physiological Society’s Claude Bernard Distinguished Lecturer, and the Arthur C. Guyton Physiology Educator of the Year, as well as multiple awards from UT-Austin, including the Burnt Orange Apple Award. She is also the recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Alumna Award from the Newcomb Alumnae Association.