Dr. Brown is a tenured Professor at Palo Alto University and Director of the Trauma program. She is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, neuropsychology, and geropsychology. She completed her internship (2002) and postdoctoral fellowship (2003) at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, Florida. From 2003 to 2015 she was a member of the University of South Florida's faculty. Dr. Brown is the developer and lead author of the Psychological First Aid Field Guide for Nursing Homes, Second Edition, winner of the 2012 Mather Lifeways Institute on Aging Promising Practices Award, and co-editor of the Psychology of Terrorism text published by Oxford University Press. 

In partnership with Dr. Maggie Gibson, she co-founded the Disasters and Older Adults Interest Group, Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Brown is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Psychological Association, Division 20 Adult Development and Aging. She has served on Stanford University and University of South Florida Institutional Review Boards and the University of South Florida Research Council (2010-11 Member; 2011-12 Vice-Chair; 2012-13 Chair). Current service activities include the Palo Alto University Institutional Review Board.