Brooker was educated at Hawarden Area School in North Canterbury from 1970 to 1982,^[4] and was dux of the school in her final year there.^[5] She went on to study chemistry at the University of Canterbury, first graduating Bachelor of Science with first-class honours, and then completing a PhD titled Synthesis and characterisation of polynuclear complexes with macrocyclic and related ligands under the supervision of Vickie McKee in 1989.^[4][6]

After a period of post-doctoral research with George Sheldrick at the University of Göttingen, Brooker returned to New Zealand to take up a lectureship in chemistry at the University of Otago in 1991.^[4][7] She rose to become a full professor in 2006.^[7]

Brooker's research is in the fields of transition-metal and macrocyclic chemistry.^[2] Her work has included the development of molecular switches and molecular magnets, with potential application in nanodevices.^[8]

In the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours, Brooker was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to science.^[9][10] Later that year, she won the Hector Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand.^[8][11][12] Also in 2017, Brooker was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.^[13]

Brooker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2007, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2011.^[8] She is also a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.^[4] In October 2019, Brooker was appointed one of seven inaugural sesquicentennial distinguished chairs, or poutoko taiea, at Otago University.^[14] She was awarded the University's Distinguished Research Medal in 2015.^[15]

• Klingele, Marco H.; Brooker, Sally (2003). "The coordination chemistry of 4-substituted 3, 5-di (2-pyridyl)-4H-1, 2, 4-triazoles and related ligands". Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 241 (1–2): 119–132. doi:10.1016/s0010-8545(03)00049-3.
• Feltham, Humphrey L.C.; Brooker, Sally (2014). "Review of purely 4f and mixed-metal nd-4f single-molecule magnets containing only one lanthanide ion". Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 276: 1–33. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2014.05.011.
• Beckmann, Udo; Brooker, Sally (2003). "Cobalt (II) complexes of pyridazine or triazole containing ligands: spin-state control". Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 245 (1–2): 17–29. doi:10.1016/s0010-8545(03)00030-4.
• Feltham, Humphrey L.C.; Lan, Yanhua; Klöwer, Frederik; Ungur, Liviu; Chibotaru, Liviu F.; Powell, Annie K.; Brooker, Sally (2011). "A non‐sandwiched macrocyclic monolanthanide single‐molecule magnet: the key role of axiality". Chemistry – A European Journal. 17 (16): 4362–4365. doi:10.1002/chem.201100438. PMID 21432925.
• Brooker, Sally (2001). "Complexes of thiophenolate-containing Schiff-base macrocycles and their amine analogues". Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 222 (1): 33–56. doi:10.1016/s0010-8545(01)00300-9.
• Rodriguez-Jimenez, Santiago; Yang, Mingrui; Stewart, Ian; Garden, Anna L.; Brooker, Sally (2017). "A simple method of predicting spin state in solution". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 139 (50): 18392–18396. doi:10.1021/jacs.7b11069. PMID 29156884.