Dr Bröcker is a clinical psychologist and early career researcher in the Department of Psychiatry, at Stellenbosch University. Her skillset spans neuromodulation (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation-TMS), trauma and stress-related disorders, digital mental health interventions, and geriatric psychiatry. Her current skill set further includes clinical research, project administration, clinical monitoring, and neurocognitive assessments.

As an early career researcher at the Department, she built a diverse portfolio of projects (South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Flagship Shared Roots Project; foetal alcohol spectrum disorders and a sleep intervention programme in adolescents). She is a member of the SAMRC Extramural Unit on the Genomics of Brain Disorders unit, involved as a TMS trainer, and consultant on the South African Microbiome Initiative in Neuroscience project, developing her research career. More recently (2023), she completed her PhD (Psychiatry) degree, where her project evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a mobile-based intervention on PTSD and associated sequelae in an adult community sample.

For her PhD, she received Harry Crossley Foundation project funding, the National Research Foundation Thuthuka grant and the highly competitive and prestigious Bongani Mayosi National Health Scholarship SAMRC. Since obtaining her PhD, she has been supported by Subcommittee C early-career research funding, a Pittsburgh-Stellenbosch D43 HIV-Comorbidities Research and Training Program and was the recipient of the SASOP Biological Psychiatry Rising Star Award.

Her solid record in publishing and communicating her research has seen her publish a case series on TMS treatment in a South African cohort and manuscripts linked to her PhD project, among other things. She regularly presents at congresses and has remained an active member of our Biological Psychiatry Congress Organising Committee since 2019.