The Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) has embraced the need for creating a more diverse and inclusive culture among our reproductive urology field by embedding these values in our programs targeted for trainees as well as in all of our program planning throughout the year. The mission of our society is to encourage the study, to elevate the practice, and to improve the quality of care of the subfertile male.

Our executive board is made up of 7 reproductive urologists all dedicated to pushing the field of male reproductive medicine and surgery forward. Dr Cigdem Tanrikut is the vice president, Dr Mary Samplaski is the secretary, Dr James Dupree is the treasurer, Drs Tolu Bakare and Ryan Smith are the directors-at-large, Dr James Hotaling is the immediate past-president, and I am the current president. Our current executive board represents the first time in history that there are more women than men. While the SSMR was first created in 1993, Dr Dolores J. Lamb was the first and only female president in 2005 up until now. In 2024, we have 3 women in the SSMR presidential chain in a society where only 12% of our membership are women. While our membership numbers have remained relatively stable over the past 10 years, in 2014 6% of our members were women.

Our annual scientific program has focused on improving patient care and raising the awareness of our members by including topics such as systemic racism in urology, how to build male infertility practices that support our multicultural patients, inadequate representation of minorities in trials, and most importantly how our society can lead the efforts addressing the cultural and societal biases in diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of underrepresented minorities in male infertility. It is a top priority to ensure diversity and representation in both the topics that are presented each year as well as the invited speakers.

A critical component to our society is fostering meaningful mentorship. The mentorship program focuses on pairing urology residents, fellows, and junior attendings with accomplished mentors within senior and established members as well as leaders within our society to provide both guidance and exposure to the specialty. SSMR has worked to continue to broaden the diversity and representation of the mentor pool to be able to provide the most valuable experience for mentees.

In 2022, we created a new scholarship program for the AUA Annual Meeting. This program, called the “SSMR-Fellow Health Diverse Leadership Scholar,” will be awarded to 5 candidates who are promising future reproductive urology leaders from diverse backgrounds (eg, disability, gender, sexual orientation, racial, and socioeconomic background).

Selected candidates will receive $1000 toward AUA expenses or postgraduate courses, networking opportunities with SSMR leaders, connection to the SSMR mentorship program, and opportunities to develop research projects with SSMR leaders.

Each Fellow Receives

• 1000 toward meeting expenses
• Highlight SSMR/fellow awardee’s at AUA/SSMR meeting
• Ongoing mentorship by SSMR leaders
• Opportunity to develop research projects with SSMR leaders
• Access to Fellow Health research data
• Free ticket to the SSMR annual banquet
• Acknowledgment at the SSMR annual banquet
• Networking breakfast with SSMR leaders

Our future success as a subspecialty field depends on the creation of a growing and engaged pipeline of talented and diverse individuals.