As we near the end of 2022, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the accomplishments of the past year. We hosted our first in-person Annual Meeting in 3 years; recommitted to advocating for, and fostering, a diverse and inclusive environment within the AUA, as well as the global urology community; launched the Institute for Leadership & Business and increased our support of researchers and investigators; to name a few.

As a global organization, the AUA represents all segments of the urology community from retired urologists and those just starting their journeys to allied health care professionals and research scientists. Our members are at the core of everything we do. In 2022, the AUA welcomed more than 2,400 new members, bringing our global footprint to nearly 25,000 members. Further, we experienced a record-breaking year for the 2022 Urology Residency Match, resulting in 365 vacancies filled with a 66% match rate and zero vacancies unmatched (Figure 1).

This year’s Urology Match was also a paramount year for females applying for and matching with urology programs, as a higher percentage of female participants matched with programs (72%), compared to their male counterparts (63%).

Annual Meeting

As the world continued to contend with the pandemic and all of the health and safety precautions that come with it, we were able to return to an in-person Annual Meeting in New Orleans in May (AUA22). We saw incredible networking and heard over and over from attendees about the benefits of meeting face-to-face. In addition to the in-person offerings we also presented numerous virtual options including livestreams and downloadable video content.

On the social media side, AUA22 was the #1 trending conference in the world between May 10 and May 18 and the #AUA22 had nearly 17,000 tweets during that time (Figure 2).

The AUA Annual Meeting remains the premier urological educational, research, policy, and networking experience in the world, and we look forward to seeing you next April in Chicago (Figure 2).

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The AUA recognizes a culturally aware and diverse membership is integral to the evolution and growth of the organization, as well as the specialty of urology. To that end, the Board of Directors approved a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Task Force in 2020 with a charge to develop actionable recommendations for the Board by February 2022. The Task Force presented, and the Board approved, 14 recommendations. Key areas of focus will include:

• A formal, standing AUA Diversity & Inclusion Committee
• Establishing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) award to recognize members’ efforts and achievements in DEI
• Enhancing AUA surveys and databases to include collection of voluntary demographic information
• Creating mentorship opportunities for underrepresented individuals in urology
• Establishing a DEI abstract category for the AUA Annual Meeting
• Incorporating DEI and health disparities in AUA educational programming
• Increasing diversity among researchers at every stage of the career journey

Institute for Leadership & Business

This spring, the AUA launched the Institute for Leadership & Business—a new initiative dedicated to providing education, training, and resources to support leadership development and business acumen within the urology community—with a full-day course at AUA22 (The Economics of Healthcare), a series of podcast episodes exploring financial management and planning for a new Global Residents Leadership Retreat to begin in 2023.

The Economics of Healthcare: Understanding Physician Compensation took an in-depth look at the economics of clinical practice and various practice models as well as the specifics of various compensation arrangements, bonuses, benefits, and other aspects of total compensation. If you didn’t get a chance to join us in New Orleans, this course is now available as a webcast on AUAUniversity.

Looking ahead to 2023, the AUA will host an invitation-only event for 40 residents from across the globe. The Global Residents Leadership Retreat will consist of a 1-day program dedicated to leadership training and development and will cultivate the next generation of leaders in urology and foster a connection between residents and trainees around the world.

Public Policy and Advocacy

In this ever-changing political landscape, our advocacy team continued to make great progress, ensuring that the critical interests of our members and their patients are promoted to a wide array of decision makers. In March we held an in-person AUA Advocacy Summit with 275 attendees including over a dozen patient advocates and more than 65 medical students, residents, and fellows (Figure 3). Attendees held nearly 205 meaningful conversations with members of Congress and their staff focusing on advocating to ease the specialty physician workforce shortage, making telehealth expansion permanent, diversifying clinical trials, and reforming the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (Figure 3).

We also expanded our reach in Washington with the introduction of S. 4330, the Specialty Physician Advancing Rural Care (SPARC) Act. The SPARC Act creates a student loan repayment program for specialist physicians practicing in rural areas. The AUA worked diligently to bring the SPARC Act to this point and will continue to advocate for its advancement through Congress.

Additionally, the AUA participated in 3 in-person patient alliance meetings this fall: the Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance in September, the Bladder Health Alliance in October, and the Kidney Cancer Impact Alliance in November. In addition to robust discussions and resource sharing, the Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance and Kidney Cancer Impact Alliance meetings included successful Capitol Hill visits as well.

Publications

This was also a big year for our publications. Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated authors, editors, and reviewers, The Journal of Urology® achieved its highest ever Journal Impact Factor of 7.6. Urology Practice® continues to grow in size and impact, too, as evidenced by impressive Altmetrics scores measured weekly. We named Dr John W. Davis as the inaugural editor of JU Open Plus—our new fully Gold Open Access online-only peer-reviewed scholarly journal—and opened submissions for that journal, which will officially launch in early 2023. Additionally, we launched a new mid-month release of AUANews, AUANewsExtra, which will allow for twice the content of your trusted member newsletter.

Innovation Nexus

In February, the AUA Board approved a proposal to create a novel urology incubator, The AUA Innovation Nexus. This new initiative will support researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs in the transformation of their early stage ideas and concepts into tangible products.

The AUA Innovation Nexus will include multiple elements such as: education, mentorship, networking, idea generation, expertise sharing from business executives, and access to investors. These building blocks will help foster innovation, technological expertise, and discovery with the ultimate goal to deliver better diagnostics and therapeutics for urology patients.

The official launch of the incubator will occur in 2023 with 2 in-person events: a 1-day program prior to AUA23 that will include educational sessions, showcases, reverse pitch sessions, and networking opportunities, and a 1-day educational workshop that will include roundtable discussions and breakout sessions on topics such as moving an idea from concept to realization, crafting a value proposition, developing a financial strategy, and engaging strategic partners.

Much of this work would not be possible without the support of our members and volunteers. I would like to express my profound gratitude to the more than 500 urologists who volunteered on over 35 AUA committees this past year. Your commitment helps us deliver on our mission and promise to advance urology around the world. This is only a glimpse into the AUA’s accomplishments for 2022 and I’m excited to see what’s in store for 2023!