Unlike any other time in history, in the last year the world has gained an appreciation for well-conducted and timely clinical trials. In less than 38 weeks, shorter than the gestation period for a fetus, basic science knowledge transformed to generate COVID-19 vaccines that were distributed to patients globally. However, biopharmaceutical products are rarely brought to the market with such rapidity. According to the American Cancer Society, oncologic agents have a 1 to 1,000 ratio of success of being brought forward for evaluations in clinical trials. On average, each viable drug is studied for at least 6 years before initiation of clinical trials.

We have benefited from rigorously conducted clinical trials. For example, age-adjusted death rates in the United States have decreased by 50% from the 1980s to the 2000s because of investments in basic and clinical research. The Salk polio vaccine, which included over 600,000 school children, was the building block that led to near-eradication of the disease in the U.S.

Often, the unsung heroes in clinical trials are the study participants who take a chance and entrust their health to their providers to answer clinically significant questions, which may or may not be beneficial for generations of patients to follow.

To advance our field, the AUA Office of Research recognizes that urologists, both those in community and academic practices, need to be appropriately equipped to ask relevant questions, design appropriate studies and participate in clinical trials in order to move our field forward. Recognizing that the majority of urologists, whether in community or academic practices, may not have the knowledge or interest to initiate or participate in clinical trials, the Office of Research in collaboration with Duke University (Drs. Charles Scales and Steven Grambow) is designing a clinical trials workshop hopefully to be carried out in-person during summer of 2021. Led by Dr. Claus Roehrborn as the program chair, we are developing a robust 2.5-day workshop designed to educate our community about conducting clinical trials across the spectrum of urological diseases and conditions. With preworkshop study material, we plan to deliver an impactful series of interactive content that will educate our urologists in different specialties with the hopes of translating the skills and knowledge to improved patient care.