Greater workforce diversity in urology improves health outcomes, provides a more inclusive and welcoming environment for women and the underrepresented in medicine (URiM) trainees considering a career in our field, and strengthens our urological community. Minorities and women remain underrepresented in urology as it relates to the U.S. demographics and our patients’ needs. In 2017 the North Central Section (NCS) Board of Directors approved the creation of a Women in Urology Committee (WIU), with approved bylaws changes at the Annual Meeting in the fall of 2018. The committee chairperson is a nonvoting member on the NCS Board of Directions. Since its inception, the NCS leadership has collaborated with WIU to make intentional changes to move toward a more inclusive culture.

While the official name of the committee is “Women in Urology,” WIU has expanded its role to champion all diversity and inclusivity. Recognizing that women and URiM urologists experience higher rates of burnout, WIU developed a Support On the Spot (SOS)/Sponsor On the Spot program geared to women and underrepresented minorities. This program provides residents and practicing urologists an avenue for reaching out for rapid advice in navigating complex work situations and to provide a sponsor to expand inclusive opportunities for involvement in professional societies, meetings, and leadership prospects.

Additionally, WIU brought forth the proposal to create an award to recognize a female or URiM member of the NCS who has been in practice for greater than 10 years and has shown outstanding service to the Section. This award has been approved and will be presented yearly at the NCS Annual Meeting.

Of note, one of the NCS WIU members, Dr Cheryl Lee, was awarded a 2023 AUA Distinguished Service Award for her outstanding commitment to bladder cancer patients, and for fostering a culture of inclusivity. We are honored to have Dr Lee in our committee and our section, and applaud her tireless efforts to overcome health disparities in urological research.

Four of the academic programs within the NCS collaborated on a novel approach to enlarging the URiM urology pipeline by creating the Prospect program. The program serves to promote diversity in urology by providing URiM first-year medical students a paid summer urology experience. The NCS will provide financial support for travel to the next NCS Annual Meeting for 4 Prospect students. Dr Hadley Wood will elaborate on the Prospect program in a separate column in this issue.

At the recent NCS Board Meeting, WIU proposed the creation of an NCS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee as a separate entity from WIU. We will start with the creation of the NCS DEI Task Force, with plans to potentially transition the task force’s work to an NCS DEI committee in the future, if approved by the membership.

The program committee continues to champion the diversity of presenters at the Annual Meeting. During the 2022 Annual Meeting, 66 (30%) of the speakers, panelists, or moderators were female. We will continue to work toward diversification of all speakers, panelists, and moderators for the coming years. The program in 2022 also featured a variety of opportunities to learn about implicit bias, microaggressions, health care disparities, wellness, and diversity in the workforce (see Table).