Dr. Dee Unglaub Silverthorn studied biology at Newcomb College of Tulane University, where she did research on cockroaches. For graduate school, she switched to studying crabs and got a Ph.D. in marine science from the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences at the University of South Carolina. Her research interest is epithelial transport, and most recent work in her laboratory has focused on transport properties of the chick allantoic membrane. Her teaching career started in the Physiology Department at the Medical University of South Carolina but over the years, Dee has taught a wide range of students, from college and medical students to those still preparing for higher education. At the University of Texas–Austin, Dr. Silverthorn teaches physiology in both laboratory and lecture settings and instructs graduate students on developing teaching skills in the life sciences.

In 2015 she joined the faculty of the new UT-Austin Dell Medical School. She has received numerous teaching awards and honors, including a 2011 UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award from the Society for College Science Teachers, the American Physiological Society’s Claude Bernard Distinguished Lecturer and Arthur C. Guyton Physiology Educator of the Year, and multiple awards from UT–Austin, including the Burnt Orange Apple Award. She was the president of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society in 2012–2013, has served as editor-in-chief of  Advances in Physiology Education, and is currently chair of the American Physiological Society Book Committee.