She began her career as a nurse at Montefiore Hospital on its NIH-funded Metabolic Neoplastic Research Unit.

She was the first nurse to receive the FREDDIE Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes excellence in medical media production.

[8] Ferguson was the second American named an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in the United Kingdom.

[3] In 1992, Ferguson retired from the VA and was named a senior fellow with the nursing program at the University of Pennsylvania.

She was 84 years old when she died on December 8, 2012, in Washington, D.C.[1] A memorial scholarship is awarded in her honor by the Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs.