[1] Her father, John Brown (1928–2005), was a lecturer of plant physiology at the University of Auckland and a Test cricket umpire.
[3] After attending Epsom Girls' Grammar School, she went on to study at the University of Auckland between 1975 and 1987.
Her Master's and doctoral research, under the supervision of Dr John E. Braggins, focused on the systematics of the liverwort genera Marchantia and Riccardia, respectively.
[5] Brown described several species of plants, including those from the Dracophyllum, Lissanthe, and Riccardia genera.
[7][8] Brown died of liver cancer on 17 November 2013 at Tahmoor, New South Wales, at the age of 57.