Yvonne Troiani-Sweeney \u201978 always had passion for the well-being of her patients. She dedicated her life to her nursing career that spanned 30 years after earning her bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing from East Stroudsburg University and a graduate degree in nursing from Villanova.\u00a0Her colleagues and patients became her second family. Nursing led her to leadership roles at what is now the Lehigh Valley Health Network, Franklin Square Hospital in Maryland, Albert Einstein Medical Center, and the Geisinger Health System. Wherever her occupation led her, she became an inspiration to others for the incredible level of care she delivered every day.<\/p>\n
All of that changed for Sweeney and her family when she was diagnosed with a form of early onset dementia called posterior cortical atrophy. She set aside her career and focused her energy on the daily challenges she faced, alongside her loving husband, Chris, and her two sons, Christopher III and Michael.<\/p>\n
Support came in many ways from Sweeney\u2019s family. Her sister, Linda Niedbala \u201983 and Linda\u2019s husband, Sam Niedbala \u201982, started the Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture Series at ESU, which kicked off in March 2014. The Niedbalas wanted this initiative to be a lasting tribute to Sweeney\u2019s devotion to others while making a significant contribution to the education of health care professionals and the community-at-large about the cognitive impairment associated with dementia and other diseases of a similar nature. Sweeney passed away in May 2025.<\/p>\n
The lecture series will continue, for the 13th<\/sup> year, on Thursday, October 30 with a keynote address by Nathaniel Chin, M.D. titled \u201cAdvancing Alzheimer\u2019s Care: Science, Therapies, and the Power of the Team.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Nathaniel A. Chin is an associate professor with the University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine and Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Dr. Chin evaluates and cares for patients in the UW Health Memory Clinic where he also serves as the associate program director. His clinical focus is on the early identification of cognitive impairment, appropriate inclusion of novel biomarkers in the diagnostic process, and the development of a holistic approach to care post-diagnosis.<\/p>\n Dr. Chin is the medical director of the WI Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Study, the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer\u2019s Prevention Study, and the ADRC consortium for Clarity in ADRD Research Through Imaging (CLARiTI). His research focuses on understanding the perceptions and implications of biomarker disclosure as well as the impact of addressing modifiable risk factors. He has created over 200 podcasts on AD research and caregiving topics under his podcast called Dementia Matters.<\/p>\n The Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture will take place in the Niedbala Auditorium located inside Warren E. \u201955 & Sandra Hoeffner Science and Technology Center at 6 p.m. A reception will follow the presentation. The event is open to the general public at no cost.<\/p>\n \u201cThis endowed lecture series is a tremendous gift to the university and to our medical community,\u201d said\u00a0ESU President Kenneth Long.<\/p>\n To register for the event, please visit www.esufoundation.org\/troiani-sweeney-lecture-series-2025<\/a> or call (570) 422-3332. Space is limited for this event. For more information about the lecture series, please contact the College of Health Sciences at (570) 422-3425 or swerkheis4@esu.edu. Those interested in making a gift to the Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture Series may contact the ESU Foundation at www.esufoundation.org\/give-now<\/a> or call (570) 422-3333.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yvonne Troiani-Sweeney \u201978 always had passion for the well-being of her patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-news-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24467"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24476,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24467\/revisions\/24476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}