[3][4] Later in her career, Gaynor received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and her Master of Science in public health at New York University, and studied the Scandinavian health system at the University of Oslo in 1965.
She then worked for the New York City's Health Department and then as head nurse at Francis Delafield Hospital in Washington Heights and as a school nurse with the Board of Education in Newark.
In 1971 she was selected from a field of 20 candidates, the rest of them men, to become the executive director of Sydenham Hospital, making her the first black woman to head a major teaching hospital in the United States.
For her final two years before retiring, she worked as a school nurse, in Los Angeles.
[2] On September 16, 1993, Gaynor died of a sudden brain hemorrhage at the age of 72.