In the fall of 2021, I was invited to assist Dr Stacy Tanaka with planning the 2022 Society of Pediatric Urology (SPU) Fall Congress Meeting. I was surprised and overwhelmed at this opportunity. At the time, I was in my fifth year out of fellowship and was still suffering from severe imposter syndrome at conferences. While I had presented my research nationally, I was confident nobody knew who I was if I didn’t have my name tag around my neck. Being recommended for the role of associate program chair was flattering but intimidating. I’d be lying if my first instinct wasn’t to politely refuse, stating I was too busy with clinical commitments. However, with the encouragement of colleagues and by appreciating the unique and valuable experience this opportunity would provide, I humbly accepted the role.

My primary source of confidence in fulfilling the responsibilities of this role was the knowledge that I was to be paired with Dr Tanaka as the senior program chair. While she was someone whom I had never met, I knew her by reputation and was reassured by mutual friends that she would be an excellent mentor and guide in the process. I viewed this position as an opportunity to have a meaningful impact on the content of a national meeting and was committed to making a significant contribution to the team effort to plan the meeting. During our planning meetings, Dr Tanaka validated my ideas and encouraged my creativity in suggesting topics for the program. We worked seamlessly as a team and I quickly gained the confidence to take risks and offer up ideas that, in a more threatening setting, I may have been reluctant to suggest. The model of senior/junior staff planning for this meeting not only provided me the safety net of a senior advisor for whom to run ideas by, but also allowed me to establish a relationship with someone with more experience and wisdom to learn from and to model my career.

Practically, this role did require a significant time commitment that was a bit of a concern given my busy clinical schedule, but between the 2 of us, Dr Tanaka and I arranged meetings in the evening and I could find time between surgical cases and on administrative time or in the evenings to complete the tasks. Dr Tanaka and I worked efficiently together to create a program and then divided tasks to complete individually. The tasks of this role included planning 2 to 3 keynote speakers for the fall meeting, determining the organization of the meeting overall, selecting and inviting speakers, moderators, and panelist as well as reviewing all submitted abstracts and, with the selection committee, determining the scientific program. On first glance, this seemed like an impossible task, but with the help of the meeting organizers we worked through the process step-by-step, kept to our deadlines, and in the end, the time commitment was manageable.

This experience was challenging and certainly had me out of my comfort zone, but it was one of the most valuable professional experiences I’ve had to date. As a member of the meeting planning committee, I was invited to participate in the SPU executive council meetings, which allowed me to experience how the society works and how decisions are made and allowed me to meet many of the senior leaders of the SPU. The process of planning and organizing the content of the meeting afforded me, along with my senior program chair, to contribute educational topics that I thought to be relevant to a younger pediatric urologist such as myself. Most importantly, holding this position provided me with the confidence and connections to pursue a more active role within the SPU as well as more locally at my institution as well as my section of the AUA. The feedback and support I received after completion of the meeting encouraged me to further my engagement and the confidence to assume leadership roles. Without this support from those who nominated and encouraged me in this role, I wonder if I would still feel like a bit of an imposter and shy away from such opportunities.

In the future I plan to continue involvement and leadership and encourage others to seek active engagement in specialty interest groups, leadership positions, and participation in the meetings. I am thankful to have been given the opportunity as a junior pediatric urologist to work with a more experienced leader such as Dr Tanaka and for the friendship and mentorship I gained from her and other leaders within the SPU and the AUA. I would hope this model of pairing a junior and senior leader for the program committee will continue as I benefited immensely from this opportunity.