Renowned urologists from leading academic centers across the US shared their insights and clinical recommendations at “Urology on the Beach,” the second annual conference hosted by the Desai Sethi Urology Institute (DSUI) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Our program covered artificial intelligence (AI), innovative surgical practices, translational research, and recent findings in virtually every urology subspeciality, including oncology, benign disease processes, male health, and female surgery.

More than 300 professionals attended the January 19 to 21 Miami Beach conference, with the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the Miller School, as the lead sponsor, reflecting the importance of collaboration in oncology research and patient care.

It was my privilege to serve as conference co-course director with my colleague, Bruno Nahar, MD, assistant professor of urologic oncology and the Eric and Elizabeth Feder Family Endowed Chair in Urologic Oncology Research, under the direction of Dipen Parekh, MD, founding director of DSUI and chief operating officer, UHealth—the University of Miami Health System.

“The success of this conference is testimony to Dr Parekh’s leadership,” said Paul Russo, MD, a urologic oncology surgeon at the Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers in New York (Figure 1). “[DSUI] is enjoying impressive growth, and it was a privilege to be invited to join the faculty for ‘Urology on the Beach.’”

Figure 1. Dipen J. Parekh, founding director of the Desai Sethi Urology Institute, host of the annual Urology on the Beach meeting.

State of Urology Survey

Our conference attendees received an early look at our institute’s inaugural “State of Urology” survey, with 93% of urologists agreeing that working with other medical specialties is crucial for managing complex urological cases (Figure 2). Nearly half cited the development of new technologies as the most impactful trend, and 87% said they plan to integrate AI and machine learning into their practice within the next 3 years.

Figure 2. The State of Urology results, a report that provides insights into the current landscape of urology, were revealed at the Urology on the Beach meeting.

However, our study also found a persistent gap in the public’s understanding of urology. Although 48% of the US adult respondents said urology was important for supporting or maintaining their personal health, 23% did not seek treatment from a urologist for potential urological symptoms, and 37% said they associate urological care with uncomfortable, embarrassing, or invasive procedures.

Based on the survey, we presented 4 recommendations for urologists:

• Drive multidisciplinary collaboration in hospitals and health systems.
• Leverage technology excellence by adopting cutting-edge technologies.
• Bridge patient-urologist perspectives to reflect concerns about discomfort, as well as early detection and prevention.
• Collaborate with general practitioners to ensure patients receive timely care from appropriate specialists.

AI’s Role in Modern Urology Care

Following last year’s conference, we chose innovation as a conference theme, and one of the most popular and engaging sessions was on “AI-Driven Innovations in Surgery,” moderated by Dr Parekh and Archan Khandekar, MD, clinical instructor at the Miller School.

Participants noted that generative AI tools like ChatGPT can be very effective for patient charting and other back-office work. Giovanni Cacciamani, MD, associate professor of research urology at the University of Southern California, called AI “the perfect copilot” for improving workflows and patient care, but cautioned that we need to look closely at what data were used to train an AI model and why that information was selected.

Another exciting addition to our conference was a surgical and innovation theater, which allowed exhibitors to provide hands-on workshops and served as a venue for residents and fellows from multiple institutions to showcase their work (Figure 3). After all, everyone benefits from learning about research being done at other top urology institutes.

Figure 3. The surgical and innovation theater was a new addition to the Urology on the Beach meeting and offered opportunities for hands-on workshops.

“Bringing together experts from different fields makes this a great resource for professionals to learn different approaches and procedures,” said Ted Schaeffer, MD, PhD, chair of urology at Northwestern University.

A Full Schedule

From an opening Friday afternoon session on men’s health through midday Sunday, our program featured recent research findings, recommendations for clinicians, and panel discussions on complex cases (Figure 4). There were multiple sessions on urologic cancers, including kidney, prostate, and bladder, as well as endourology and benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Figure 4. Chad Ritch, MD, MBA, associate professor of urologic oncology at the Miller School of Medicine, fields a question during his session on urology and kidney cancer.

Joel Sheinfeld, MD, deputy chief of urology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said the conference offered highly relevant basic, translational and clinical findings.

“With a great program and well-known speakers, this conference has a tremendous impact in providing guidance to the urology community,” he said.

In her keynote presentation, “Management of the Asymptomatic Stone,” Margaret Pearle, MD, PhD, professor of urology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, discussed the pros and cons of treating kidney stones before they create problems, noting, “It’s hard to make an asymptomatic patient feel better.”

Nima Sharifi, MD, Miller School professor and DSUI scientific director, moderated a session on translational research and presented his work on “Intraoperative Studies on Androgen Physiology in Prostate Cancer,” looking at the impact of local testosterone levels on outcomes of men undergoing radical prostatectomy. He said a better understanding of androgen processes could help identify cancer treatment targets.

Katherine Amin, MD, assistant professor of clinical urology, and I moderated the female urology session, where speakers discussed overactive bladder, voiding dysfunction, reconstructive options for pelvic organ prolapse and neurogenic bladder, and several other topics (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Raveen Syan, MD, FPMRS, moderated sessions on female urology and gender-affirming care, as well as served as conference co-director.

Robert Uzzo, MD, MBA, president and CEO, Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, focused on the right treatments for metastatic kidney cancer in his talk, “Immediate Versus Deferred Cytoreductive Nephrectomy: Timing and Indications.” He noted that the recent CARMENA (Cancer du Rein Metastatique Nephrectomie et Antiangiogéniques) clinical trial showed that up-front therapy is equivalent to surgical treatment.

Looking at the follow-up findings of the ProtecT (Prostate Testing for Cancer and Treatment) prostate cancer trial, Ian Thompson, MD, professor emeritus, University of Texas in San Antonio, said, “We have more effective therapies for those who develop metastatic disease. However, we tend to overtreat and we need to be sure patients are fully informed about screening benefits and risks.”

For Sunday’s closing session on genitourinary reconstructive surgery, I was joined by Laura Horodyski, MD, assistant professor of urology, in a discussion that raised awareness of treatment options for transgender patients and how community urologists can provide gender-affirming care.

Speaking for many of our attendees, Denise Asafu-Adjei, MD, MPH, director of male reproductive medicine, Loyola University in Chicago, said, “This conference is a great venue to learn from each other. Seeing what others are doing will help me provide better care to my patients, and I encourage more urologists to attend next year.”