Sometimes everything falls into place perfectly. Early in her nursing career, Darci Pfeil, NP, decided that she wanted to care for patients with long-term conditions. From 1989 onward, she has cared for patients and guided families through the many challenges of living with chronic illness. Now, after 36 years of gratifying practice, Pfeil will step into retirement early this winter.
“I realized I was drawn to caring for children and families with chronic illness,” Pfeil recounted. “As a staff nurse at UW Children’s Hospital starting in 1989, I worked in the inpatient unit and cared for hematology oncology patients, the kidney and liver transplant patients, and then the patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The patients with cystic fibrosis drew me in and captured my interest.”
After two years, she realized she wanted to gain knowledge and go deeper in her practice. She went back to graduate school to become a nurse practitioner. “The main reason was that I hoped to care for patients with cystic fibrosis on an outpatient basis. I wanted to teach them about CF in general and about their own illness, and how to incorporate that knowledge into their daily lives to become as healthy as possible,” Pfeil explained.
Fortuitously, Pfeil’s further nursing education and interest in CF coincided with the pathbreaking Wisconsin Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening Project. She joined the inpatient Pediatric Pulmonary Team in 1993 as a nurse practitioner and was selected to provide care for the pediatric subjects of the innovative study that greatly advanced knowledge and transformed treatment of patients with CF. The last subjects for the study were enrolled in 1994, and Pfeil cared for the pediatric subjects until all had completed the project’s protocols in 2012.
Pfeil found herself in the perfect position, doing what she loved for children and families living at the cutting edge of change in CF treatment. In addition, her work included not only provider care, but also teaching, public speaking, and participation as a contributing author to many scientific papers on the CF study and new treatments as they emerged.
Pfeil’s work with patients with CF allowed her to collaborate with Michael Rock, MD, now professor emeritus in the Division of Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine, at the UW Cystic Fibrosis Center. The center cares for patients with CF and also supports treatment research. Its essential work continues today, 30 years later.
Philip Farrell, MD, PhD, emeritus dean and professor in the Division of Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine, initially brought Pfeil into the project to work with the children of the CF study and their families. He offered his unqualified praise for her skilled and compassionate participation in many areas of the CF project.
“Darci was a godsend for our cystic fibrosis newborn screening program as we transitioned from a randomized clinical trial to a more efficient follow-up care center that became the national standard thanks to her impact in partnership with Dr. Michael Rock. She has always provided uniquely skilled, family-oriented care with especially effective and supportive communications linked to lifelong care. Her patients with CF and their families love her,” Farrell said.
Farrell noted that Pfeil excelled in early diagnosis of CF, a life-threatening genetic disease, in family support, continuity of care, and in clinical research. She became the nationally recognized role model for CF nurse specialists who are engaged in newborn screening.
“We have been so fortunate to have her on our team for three decades,” Farrel said. “I have always felt privileged to work with Darci and proud of her national reputation.”
Kate Swenson, NP, is a pediatric nurse practitioner with UW Health who has worked with Pfeil for two decades caring for CF patients. She was eager to voice her praise and gratitude as Pfeil wraps up her UW career.
“Darci leaves a considerable legacy in the CF community and on our team. She has led and shaped care internationally as well as supported and empowered advanced practice nursing at AFCH,” Swenson recounted. “I consider her my mentor and am so grateful to have gotten to learn and work alongside her for 20 years!”
Five Questions for Darci Pfeil, NP
How has your career surprised you, compared to how you had expected it to develop when you began?
Perhaps it could be considered a surprise, but I have been able to do exactly what I decided early on I wanted to do: care for children with a chronic condition — cystic fibrosis — and their families, develop long-term relationships, and help them live the healthiest lives they can.
I have been able to work with great pioneers in cystic fibrosis — Phil Farrell, Mike Rock, and Chris Green [Christopher Green, MD, now emeritus professor, Division of Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine]. They have greatly influenced me personally and professionally.
I’ve had the pleasure of working in CF research from newborn screening in the 1980s to cutting-edge modulator studies in 2025, and many in between: something I never imagined I would do as I was starting out.
What do you consider to be your biggest achievement?
My whole career has been a cascade of opportunities and achievements I could never have foreseen. But to mention just one, I am proud having co-created our transition program for CF called “Moving On,” which is nationally known and used at many CF centers around the country. Patients with cystic fibrosis used to have a life expectancy of 27 years. Now they live into their 60s. I had the opportunity to speak at an international medical conference in London, presenting our “Moving On” transition program.
What has been your largest obstacle to overcome?
Not an obstacle, but a change in perception. When I tried to teach these children about life and how to incorporate a chronic illness into their life, I realized it was really the children and the families who were teaching me. They have to pay such a different degree of attention and are so much more aware of the fragility of life. At any moment, something could go horribly wrong. That changed my perception about my role and purpose as a teacher.
What advice would you offer to new providers just starting out?
As a provider, being a listener is so much more important than being a communicator. Especially with children. It’s so important to listen first, to listen closely before forming any opinion, before speaking.
Do you have specific plans for your retirement?
When I was working in my career, my own children were under the care of my parents. I have one granddaughter already and another grandchild coming. I look forward to spending more time helping my children with their families, as my parents helped me. I’ll be paying it forward just as my parents did.