The Northeastern Section of the AUA (NSAUA) spans beyond the Canadian border, representing upstate New York, western Pennsylvania, and Canada, from Manitoba to the Atlantic coast, with a membership split in half between American and Canadian. Our section, the AUA’s smallest, devotes its efforts toward approximately 1000 members and welcomes 5 American and 11 Canadian residency programs. The obvious and not-so-obvious unique challenges and various socioeconomic conditions encountered throughout our exceptional geographic margins surely increase the need to acknowledge the diversity of our membership. In fact, this has been historically engraved as part of our association’s vision statement. Nonetheless, our association’s desire to evolve beyond our historical commitment opened the door to new strategies. Hence, the NSAUA’s more recent actions have included surveying our membership prior to establishing a committee devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as we hope this helps us better target future endeavors. We are glad to report that this endeavor has been supported by a majority. This will, we hope, be a positive adjunct to our association’s already very modern approach. De facto, allowing various individuals to contribute, to participate, while offering them new opportunities has been happening within our organization for some time now. However, tracking diversity metrics in the future may allow our organization to flourish further.

The diverse nature of our section’s unique membership explains the longtime desire to pay attention to and celebrate all. Discussing common interests while acknowledging cultural differences is a given. For instance, last year’s annual meeting held in Pittsburgh included a plenary session that discussed challenges encountered by urologists practicing in rural communities. Looking forward, the next NSAUA annual meeting will allow participants to experience the world in which some members of our Canadian diaspora live. Why not mark your calendars to attend our 76th annual meeting in Montreal on September 19-21 in 2024 to experience the little “je-ne-sais-quoi” the city has to offer? Highlighting the differences that define us while sharing the local culture with those who wish to do so is always much appreciated.

Increasing diverse leadership has been demonstrated to improve trust and performance of organizations. Our most obvious gesture to date has been integrating women into leadership roles. Our current president, Dr Jodi K. Maranchie, is the third female president of our section, and it is already known that there will be a fourth in a few years, as we will eventually nominate our current treasurer, Dr Karen Psooy. Similarly, other underrepresented minorities are now assuming leadership positions, but keeping track is not as easy. Implementing the use of a standardized self-identification questionnaire may, we hope, improve our ability to witness and document change.

NSAUA’s initiatives worth mentioning include the recent changes made to the composition of the Board of Directors. Indeed, leaders of our section recently achieved broadening the spectrum of the membership involved in discussing key issues and making decisions. Two community urologists, an American and a Canadian, are now sitting at the main table to represent part of the membership. More recently, two additional seats have been created to welcome a resident from each side of the border.

As we move forward, it is important to stress that we value each of our members. Including all—to improve what we do and how we do it—is a way to allow our organization to grow and evolve. However, enabling everyone to be present, seen, and heard is not synonymous with ignoring those who merit attention.