Dr. Silvia Dorn obtained her diploma degree in biology and her Ph.D. in phytomedicine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland.
In 1974, she joined the research department of a large Swiss-based international agrochemical company. After her return from a sabbatical as postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York, she was promoted to head of entomological research.
Her major scientific achievement was her leading role in the discovery, development and market introduction of the novel insect growth regulator, fenoxycarb. Dorn became full professor of applied entomology at ETH in 1992, and in 2002, was elected head of the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences. Her research and teaching focus on insect-plant interactions from the molecular to the agroecosystem level. Also, she was president of the Swiss Society of Phytomedicine.
(updated September, 2004)