In 2021, she was conferred with the title of emeritus professor by Massey University, where she had been inaugural director of the Sleep/Wake Research Centre until stepping down from that role in 2019.

[1] Gander wrote her master's thesis at the University of Auckland in 1976 with the title A model for the circadian pacemaker of Hemideina thoracica derived from the effects of temperature on its activity rhythm.

[2] After a 1980 PhD titled Circadian organization in the regulation of locomotor activity and reproduction in Rattus exulans at the same institution,[3] Gander took up a Fulbright Fellowship at Harvard Medical School in 1980.

[11] In the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the study of sleep and fatigue.

[12] Notable students of Gander's include Leigh Signal and Ridvan Tupai-Firestone, both professors at Massey University.