In 1974 she studied Russian at the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster), gaining a Distinction in the Intermediate Diploma of the Chartered Institute of Linguists in 1975.

In 1976 she moved to Hampshire, and completed two years of nurse training at Southampton General Hospital.

Her major research interest is health care simulation modelling aimed at improving service delivery or evaluating screening programmes and treatments.

She has been an invited plenary or keynote speaker at numerous international conferences and workshops, including most recently: She was one of only three UK researchers to contribute to a special invited track on the history of simulation at the 50th US Winter Simulation Conference, held in Las Vegas in December 2017.

She is an editor of the book Discrete-Event Simulation and System Dynamics for Management Decision Making.

In 2000 Brailsford married Chris Potts, professor of Operational Research at the University of Southampton.