It is an exciting opportunity to be accepted into the AUA Leadership Program, which is considered the AUA’s most venerated and long-standing leadership initiative. Members of the program’s prior classes have gone on to become department chairs and leaders within the urological community, and it is both thrilling and humbling to be a part of such an incredible group of leaders. Through our initial events, I am already inspired by the passion and devotion of the current and former class participants to the future of urology. It is also an incredible honor to have such thoughtful, knowledgeable, and venerated faculty be our program mentors who are dedicating their time to our development.

I applied to this program because I truly love being a physician and a part of something so much greater. Physicians and healers have historically held a venerated position in society, and when I read resident applications, it is easy to remember why: people go into medicine to help others and to give back—they have chosen a life of service. Medicine is a noble profession, and it is a privilege that patients and their families trust us with their health and their lives.

And yet physician burnout is on the rise in large part due to the external pressures to be productive and documentation responsibilities that take away from the face-to-face time that creates truly meaningful physician-patient relationships. We are facing a significant physician shortage, which will place additional strain on both the system and our physicians. This is likely to result in worsening physician burnout, decreased access to care, higher patient dissatisfaction, and potentially worse patient outcomes. Throughout my career, I have seen phenomenal physicians change jobs or leave medicine altogether because of frustrations with the system, lack of support for their careers, and the ever-present struggle of work-life balance.

I deeply believe that happy and supported doctors provide excellent care. As a result, I have become passionate about supporting and empowering surgeons in their academic careers and improving work-life balance. Through the AUA Leadership Program, I am looking forward to learning more about the AUA and how they work to help advance the field of urology and address future challenges. I am hopeful that this program will help me refine my leadership skills and find opportunities to give back to our fellow physicians and patients on a national level. As a residency program director and a woman in urology, I am looking forward to learning ways we can better support and develop our trainees and enhance the careers of a diverse workforce through advocacy and mitigating burnout. In the end, I hope to utilize this experience to help improve physician career satisfaction, and, as a result, improve the care they provide and potential future discoveries they make.