As a member of the Southeastern Section of the AUA I have enjoyed watching southeastern states gather for state society meetings. One of my first memories as a urology resident is of the Georgia Urological Association meeting at Sea Island, where I met Dr. Bill Cooner, who would lead me to my first job with his group, Mobile Urology Group, PA. And as an Alabama resident I recall the days when the Alabama State society met every summer. We typically gathered along the Gulf Coast and enjoyed educational presentations and networking opportunities. These events were scholarly but were also social opportunities to make new friends and reconnect with old friends. Over the last 5 to 10 years the meetings ended and the Alabama State society ceased to exist in any active form. Several urologists in Alabama, myself included, have been interested in reviving our state society. We have been working for the last year to make this a reality.

It is surprisingly difficult to get a small group of busy urologists together even virtually to discuss a new venture. Well maybe it’s not surprising, considering the shortage of urologists and epidemic burnout amongst urologists. We are all busy with our families and practice obligations, plus other meetings and commitments.

We started with a large virtual gathering in the spring of 2021 to gauge interest and to float ideas about what a state society should look like. We found that there was interest in creating such a society but that this large group was unwieldy in managing the details of forming a society. We used information gathered at this large meeting to help focus our mission statement. We narrowed the core group to 8 urologists spread throughout the state, and this core group was tasked with forming a state society. We have gathered virtually on a monthly basis, and outlined our goals and developed a mission statement. We have elected officers and divided duties so no one person is carrying the entire load.

Our first official board meeting was in January of 2022. Our board members include: Michael Bivens, Homewood, Alabama as chairman; Brian Richardson, Montgomery, Alabama as vice chairman; John Pirani, Gadsden, Alabama as treasurer and Lorie Fleck, Mobile, Alabama as governmental affairs liaison; as well as Rishi Rajan, Opelika, Alabama; Anne Scott, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Keith Jiminez, Huntsville, Alabama and Jeff Nix, Birmingham, Alabama. We started our discussion with the goal of defining what exactly we wanted in our state society and outlined our priorities. We needed a name and decided to call our society the Alabama Urology Network (AUN). There are many facets to creating a new organization, and thankfully we have the assistance of a large urology group business manager. The mission statement for AUN includes supporting its members through collaboration, communication, education and advocacy in our state. We are writing our bylaws based on AUA bylaws and other states’ bylaws as a guide. We plan to incorporate as a 501(C)(6) organization. We are working on forming a website for AUN to improve the dissemination of information. We will continue to address issues such as physician recruitment, revenue streams, Advanced Practice Providers, political policy and best practices, both clinical and business.

We recently sent a letter to all the urologists invited to the original virtual meeting announcing our progress. We shared the new society’s name, the board members names and the goals of AUN. These goals include improving intergroup dialogue on issues that we all face, including coding and reimbursement, and prior authorization burdens. We are also using this new state society as a way to mobilize response for state regulatory changes.

We are still working on our future plans. We are asking ourselves questions, such as: do we want to have a state meeting, and if so, where does this fall in the midst of the AUA section meeting, AUA Annual Meeting; American Society of Clinical Urologists; Society of Urologic Oncology; Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction; Society of Women in Urology and Advocacy meetings? A practicing urologist only has time for so many meetings, and if we choose to have a state meeting it will need to fill a specific need. Hopefully, at the least, we will create a network of urologists who can respond nimbly to state regulatory issues, and who can collaborate on new technology and be available and in communication with each other more easily. So the AUN is born, and is growing and developing into a structure to benefit both Alabama Urologists and our patients.