She became Dean of Yale School of Nursing in 1959, after being named to the position on an acting basis the previous year.

[4][5] A short time later, she reconnected with Henry Wald, whom she met initially while she was conducting a study with the United States Army Signal Corps.

Dr. Saunders spoke that day about her methods of using palliative care for terminally ill cancer patients, with the intention of allowing those in the latest stages of their disease to focus on their personal relationships and prepare themselves for death.

An "indelible impression" was made by Dr. Saunders, with Wald noting that "until then I had thought nurses were the only people troubled by how a terminal illness was treated".

[1][4] Her husband left his engineering firm and enrolled at Columbia University in 1971 with a major in hospital planning.

[1] After returning to the United States, she organized a team of doctors, clergy and nurses to investigate the needs of dying patients.

Disagreements had been brewing within the board about her vision for the hospice program, and she was forced to resign shortly after its opening.

[1] She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1996 from Yale University, Wald was introduced as "the mother of the American hospice movement".