Troiani-Sweeney Lecture Series at East Stroudsburg University

Moving Towards Personalized Medicine for Alzheimer’s Disease

Thursday, October 29, 2026
6 p.m.
Niedbala Auditorium
Warren E. ’55 and Sandra Hoeffner Science and Technology Center

Light reception to follow in the lower lobby

Featuring Keynote Speaker

Dr. David Wolk

Dr. David Wolk is Professor of Neurology, Director of the National Institute of Aging funded Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Co-Director of the Penn Institute on Aging, Chief of the Division of Cognitive Neurology, and Co-Director of the Penn Memory Center.

Dr. Wolk’s research has focused on the cognitive neuroscience of memory decline associated with aging and Alzheimer’s Disease using techniques including behavioral testing, structural and functional MRI, and FDG and molecular PET imaging. Much of this work is also directed at examining biomarkers, including behavioral and neuroimaging, that differentiate healthy aging from the earliest transition to AD and their potential role in understanding disease mechanisms and incorporation into treatment trials. Another related thread of his work has been to better understand, classify and predict sources of heterogeneity in AD. Dr. Wolk has had sustained NIH support since 2003 and has been the principal or co-investigator on numerous local, national and international studies.

Dr. Wolk completed his medical training at Johns Hopkins University, a Neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and clinical Fellowship training in Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School; where he also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship studying memory in Alzheimer’s Disease. Amongst a number of honors, he is the recipient of the American Academy of Neurology’s Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral Neurology and the Human Amyloid Imaging Clark Award.

SPONSORED BY THE NIEDBALA FAMILY FOUNDATION

For more information, please contact the College of Health Sciences at 570-422-3425.

About the Lecture Series

The Troiani-Sweeney Lecture Series honors Yvonne Troiani-Sweeney, a 1978 nursing graduate of ESU who was diagnosed with a form of early onset dementia called posterior cortical atrophy. Linda Troiani Niedbala ’82 and The Niedbala Family Foundation established this lecture series to be a lasting tribute to Yvonne and her devotion to others.

From 1978 to 2011, Yvonne’s career included positions such as director of nursing at Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore, Md., the director of nursing at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pa., and head nurse at the Burn Center at what is now Lehigh Valley Health Network.