The Societies for Pediatric Urology (SPU) are excited to host their 69th Annual Meeting, face-to-face, in conjunction with the AUA Annual Meeting. The SPU Meeting will be held on Saturday, September 11 (7:30 am–6:00 pm) at the Palazzo at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

After the tumultuous, chaotic and ever-changing landscape of 2020 and the early part of 2021, we are thrilled to be meeting in person and are looking forward to an exceptional annual meeting. Due to the changes in schedule and potential overlap with other urology meetings scheduled for the fall, the 2021 SPU meeting will revert to a 1-day program, reminiscent of several years ago.

We are grateful to our program chairs and the AUA for helping to navigate the switch from an abstract driven program to a 1-day format and are looking forward to an outstanding program including podium, state-of-the-art lectures, engaging panel discussions, and the distinguished Meredith Campbell and Duckett Lectures, as well as the AUA Plenary Session and AUA pediatric urology programming on Friday, Sunday and Monday.

Program Chair, Dr. Fernando A. Ferrer from Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, New York, and Associate Program Chair, Dr. Rebecca Zee from Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia, are to be congratulated for planning and pivoting throughout the last two years.

The SPU meeting will begin with a Hypospadias session discussing the benefits and weaknesses of the TIP (tubularized incised plate) procedure, as well as considerations as patients transition to adulthood. Moderated by John Makari, MD from Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Omaha, this session will kick the morning off with a bang.

Highlights of the program include the Meredith Campbell Lecture, which will feature Amanda C. North, MD from Montefiore Medical Center speaking on “Back to the Future: The Past, Present, and Future of the Urologic Workforce.”

Heather N. DiCarlo, MD from Johns Hopkins University will moderate a panel on “Genital Gender Affirming Surgery: Techniques in the Pediatric Urologist’s Wheelhouse.” The panel will address metoidioplasty and vaginoplasty, as well as delayed procedures in intersex adolescents.

Additional panels include “Quality Improvement in Pediatric Urology: Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) Protocols in Reconstructive Surgery,” moderated by Martin A. Koyle, MD, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and “What is the Contemporary Role of Ureteral Reimplantation?” moderated by Yegappan Lakshmanan, MD, Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

New to the annual meeting in 2021 will be presentation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Medal of Honor. We are pleased to join with our AAP colleagues in honoring our colleague, David A. Bloom, MD from the University of Michigan.

We are pleased to have the SPU Lecture presented by Richard J. Redett III, MD, Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins. Dr. Redett will present “Conventional Surgical Techniques and Emerging Transplantation in Complex Penile Reconstruction.”

Rounding out Saturday’s programming will be a NSQIP® (National Surgical Quality Improvement Program) Update by Jonathan Ellison, MD from Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

We will have the traditional SPU Reception in the Exhibit Hall following the last session on Saturday, and we welcome you to join us.

The Sunday Plenary Session at the AUA will include panels on “The Challenging Patient with Recurrent UTI,” moderated by A. Lenore Ackerman, MD; “Transitional Care in the Spina Bifida/Exstrophy Patient,” moderated by Konrad Szymanski, MD; and “Second Opinion Cases: Pediatric Bladder Dysfunction,” moderated by Christopher Cooper, MD.

Always a highlight of the Sunday morning session is the John Duckett Memorial Lecture. We are excited to have Thomas F. Kolon, MD from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia present “Nephron-Sparing Surgery in the Management of Wilms Tumor.” We are also excited to include a Semi-Live Surgery session on Hypospadias Repair given by João Luiz Pippi-Salle, Sidra Medical and Research Center.

The AUA will have several pediatric urology poster, video and abstract sessions throughout the meeting on Friday and Sunday, as well as instructional courses on Sunday and Monday. This meeting should not be missed because it represents the first international meeting where we will finally be able to see and talk with friends and colleagues.

Please visit the SPU website for the complete program (https://spuonline.org/meeting/).