Thorn is a licensed psychologist; dually trained in neurosciences and clinical psychology. She is also a certified end-of-life doula. Beverly spent decades as a faculty member at Ohio State University and the University of Alabama, where she went on to serve as director of the PhD program and Psychology Department Chair. She retired in 2016 to help care for her husband who had Alzheimer’s dementia and died in 2020. Although she has published professional books and workbooks on chronic illness, after her husband’s death Beverly wrote her first popular press book Before I Lose My Own Mind: Navigating Life as a Dementia Caregiver. This is a cross-genre book – part deeply personal memoir and part guidebook packed with facts, insights, and resources. Before I Lose My Own Mind is in press with Girl Friday Publications and will be out in May 2025. Currently professor emerita, she continues to publish, speak, and conduct workshops nationally and internationally on managing chronic illness.

She has won multiple professional awards and is a longtime member of the American Psychological Association, board certified in health psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and a fellow in the Societies of Behavioral Medicine, Clinical Psychology, and Health Psychology.

She is the author of hundreds of articles, two books, and four workbooks on coping with chronic illness.