This year’s 2024 AUA Urology Advocacy Summit included attendees ranging from undergraduate students to past AUA presidents and highlighted the importance of the advocacy mission for the urologic workforce. This team of authors served on a panel to highlight the diversity and range of experiences and opportunities for young urologists to get started in advocacy. We discussed the issues that started our advocacy journey, the reasons we stay involved with advocacy, the challenges associated with balancing advocacy work with clinical practice, and the importance of working together through future advocacy to improve health care for our patients.

We have identified 4 keys to a successful start in advocacy:

1. Find the issues that matter to you.
2. Work with mentors, sponsors, and coaches to help you become a better advocate.
3. Balance your clinical career and your focus on patient care with advocacy.
4. Stay involved!

Urologists encounter policy issues that confront our patients and directly impact our practices throughout our careers. Finding issues that matter to you and your patients is an important component to remain motivated when donating your personal time (and money) to advocacy efforts. Specifically, Dr Seideman shared how an insurance denial for a necessary surgery started her on the path of urology advocacy. Her success in this effort continues to motivate her to work to improve access to care for patients in Oregon.

Mentors, sponsors, and coaches play an important role in involvement with urology advocacy. Mentors can help new advocates navigate the bureaucracy that determines health policy. Sponsors identify opportunities for new advocates to utilize their developing expertise. Coaches motivate developing advocates to stay engaged with both clinical and nonclinical work to better health outcomes for patients. Importantly, maintain your network of mentors and sponsors from each aspect of your journey, as they will help unlock future opportunities.

Balancing your clinical practice with health advocacy can be difficult for trainees and early career urologists. Although not formally considered a conventional scholarly activity, health policy and advocacy work can provide a unique pathway to publications in academic journals for urologists pursuing an academic career path. Additionally, advocacy work can provide substantial opportunities for hospital-employed and private practice urologists to be policy experts for their systems and practices. This expertise can lead to unique career opportunities and allow for significant improvement in health care delivery for our patients.

Finally, it is important to stay involved in advocacy work after the AUA Advocacy Summit. With many trainees and young urologists feeling inspired to begin their advocacy journey, it’s important to know the myriad opportunities to get involved. Hospital committees provide an excellent way for both trainees and urologists to offer their expertise to advocate for local change to improve patient care within an institution. Involvement with state medical societies and state urologic societies can allow urologists to impact state-level legislation. Recently, urologists have been involved with state efforts to support zero cost-sharing for prostate cancer screening and to change the wording of proposed chaperone requirements to protect both physicians and patients. The AUA also provides multiple opportunities for trainees and early career urologists to engage with advocacy efforts from sectional and national health policy committees to fellowships designed to improve health policy knowledge and advocacy skills.