Urologists across the world adapt to meet the demands of society to competently heal the sick and serve the most vulnerable among us. Globally, these demands are challenged by forces such as workforce shortages and resource limitations. Urologists constantly brave these challenges to care for their communities while upholding the ideals of the profession. From my experience as a young urologist training and practicing in the US, those in our field consistently embrace challenge with enthusiasm. They remain steadfast in the pursuit of our unifying mission to advance urology through research, innovation, and collaboration. During my time in India as the AUA/Urological Society of India (USI) exchange scholar, I learned that Indian urologists are some of the best among us and model the ideals of our field.

As an exchange scholar, I was reminded of urology’s wonder that I fell in love with back in medical school. In India, urology is not merely another cog in the wheel of the medical machine. Urology is a disruptor and innovator that can act as a driving force for idealism in medicine. The US-India Bladder Exstrophy Collaborative was a perfect example of urology leading change that I witnessed in my travels through the country. Dr Aseem Shukla (professor of surgery in urology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) and Dr Rakesh Joshi (superintendent, Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, India) established this collaboration in 2009 with the aim of providing free surgical repair and medical follow-up for children born with bladder exstrophy.¹ It has since grown into an annual global surgical conference that trains surgeons, serves hundreds of patients in the region each year, and performs research for the benefit of the global community. Established around a mission to alleviate suffering from a complex disorder, urology was able to build a coalition abroad to tackle a complex issue for the benefit of patients across the globe. Urology proved to this local community and the world that it can rise to the challenge and uphold its mission to advance the field though collaboration.

My time spent with Indian urology leaders, Dr Mahesh Desai (Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital, Nadiad) and Dr MS Ansari (Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow), furthered my appreciation for urology. Both revered faculty in India have a career defined by innovation and influence. They have both established comprehensive urology programs that offer modern surgical care including renal transplant, laparoscopy, and robotics to all patients, no matter their ability to pay. Both faculty have committed to sharing their rich surgical experience through the publication of hundreds of peer-reviewed articles that have influenced practice patterns across the world over the past few decades. It was inspiring to observe these individuals in the clinical environment as they have an unsaturable motivation to serve their local community and advance the future of urology in India.

Upon reflection on my experience as an exchange scholar, I learned several things that I can apply to my own practice. I learned to trust my training but to not be afraid to innovate. Pediatric urology is a specialty built on the dogma established by giants in our field who were not afraid to challenge the status quo at the time. Like my Indian colleagues, it is imperative that we dare to make things better whilst not forgetting our roots and needs of the local community. I also learned in India that urologists can be agents of change in medicine and society. We are the surgeons who treat some of the most debilitating and challenging disorders in human medicine. The opportunity to innovate and build programs that can better serve our patients across the world cannot be overlooked as just public relations headlines. Urologists can have immense impact and our Indian colleagues demonstrate this truth every day, inspiring many across the world to be their very best.

I highly encourage those interested in fruitful collaboration with global leaders in urology to apply to be an AUA exchange scholar. It was an experience that reignited my enthusiasm for the specialty and has motivated me to seek out opportunities to advance the field as a young urologist.