The American Society of Men’s Health (ASMH) held its annual scientific meeting on Sunday morning, May 15, 2022 at the Hilton Grand Ballroom, New Orleans, Lousiana. “There is no better way of describing this than a truly multidisciplinary learning experience,” I said to those assembled at the meeting. ASMH President Dr. Joel Heidelbaugh added that ‘the meeting really challenged the attendees, who were largely urologists, to expand their understanding of men’s health issues beyond the traditional footprint of Urology.”

Dr. Marty Miner, Past President of the organization, kicked off the meeting with a timely and highly informative discussion that identified a number of areas in which the existing AUA Men’s Health Checklist needs to be updated. “Once these updates are adopted,” said Dr. Miner, “this Men’s Health Checklist could evolve into a highly useful clinical tool to elucidate and track men’s health issues both above and below the waist.” Studies have shown that men often delay seeking medical care and Dr. Jessie Mills followed up with a focus on how to encourage them to seek preventative care at a younger age. “As urologists we are often gatekeepers for men’s health,” he stated. “The trick is in identifying how we can use the disorders that we traditionally treat as a launching pad to address more diverse health and wellness strategies by our healthcare colleagues.”

In the next series of talks, the breadth of men’s health and wellness topics were explored. I reviewed the existing data and recommendations related to male cancer screening, with a particular emphasis on colorectal, lung, skin and prostate cancer. “While many of these malignancies do not traditionally fall within the urologist’s space,” I stated, “as men’s health advocates it is good medical care to keep these items on our patients’ dashboards, particularly as they get older. Males often avoid cancer screenings, and with the existing society recommendations, these particular screenings have proven to help men live longer.” Helping men live longer and healthier lives was the subject of the next talk that was led by Dr. Stephen Kopecky, author and preventative cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic. Optimizing men’s health through promotion of healthier lifestyles, including diet, exercise and the incorporation of statins and antihypertensive medications when indicated is an important role that we have. As Dr. Kopecky shared, “even if urologists are not prescribing these particular medications, recognizing the indications for their use helps us to better assume the role of a true men’s health coach.” Depression and suicide are high priorities for any men’s health agenda, and Dr. Penny Jenson delivered an extremely powerful and poignant discussion on the high prevalence of these problems in our aging veteran population. Finally, this portion of the session, which focused on holistic health and wellness, ended with a robust discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on Men’s Health by Dr. David Mushatt, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Tulane Medical Center.

The ASMH scientific session ended with a fast-paced series of talks focusing on state-of-the-art evaluation and management strategies related to urological topics that were approached through the lens of a men’s health agenda. Dr. Faysal Yafi provided an update on therapeutics for a number of sexual health issues, including erectile dysfunction, Peyronie’s Disease and premature ejaculation. Dr. Thomas Masterson delivered a practical review of regenerative strategies for sexual health, and Dr. Steve Kaplan delivered an exciting perspective on personalizing benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment. Finally, Dr. Sanoj Punnen ended the session with a provocative approach to prostate cancer screening which no longer requires the use of a digital rectal examination.

The 2022 ASMH annual scientific meeting once again pushed the boundaries of men’s health beyond male genitourinary disorders and therapeutics. Dr. Jason Jameston, who officially began his tenure as President of the ASMH at the termination of the meeting, indicated that this meeting “showed us how far men’s health has come. Furthermore, the span of topics discussed may serve as a template for the development of a true men’s health curriculum that the ASMH is actively engaged in developing.” We look forward to hearing more from the ASMH this year as they develop a series of travelling academic conferences for physicians and physician extenders. Stay tuned and look for an upcoming ASMH conference in fall 2022 in Dallas, Texas, as well as the annual scientific meeting at AUA2023 in Chicago next year.