Dr. Brewer is a Professor of Nursing at the School of Nursing University at Buffalo. She is the Director of Nursing for the New York State Area Health Education System Statewide Office, developing NYS AHEC System nursing policy, and nursing and health care workforce development programs. She serves as the Steering Committee Chair for the Institute for Nursing, the newly established New York State nursing workforce center.

She earned her Ph.D. in Nursing Systems, a Master's degree in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan, and a Master's in Nursing from the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Brewer conducts research that examines RN workforce participation decisions, which is key to developing effective policy. She has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to examine workforce behavior of RNs in Metropolitan Statistical Areas and by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a 10-year national panel study of newly licensed RNs. She served on AHRQ's Health Systems Research Study Section, and was a founding member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues Interest Group of AcademyHealth.

She was awarded the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, the New York Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award from the New York State Nursing Association, as well as the UB Exceptional Scholar Sustained Achievement Award.