Joining the AUANews team as one of 3 inaugural editors of the Medical Student Column (MSC) was nothing short of a wonderful experience. The AUANews MSC was introduced in November 2022 as a contemporary platform for trainee engagement—a space built by students that aimed to shine light on our diverse experiences—and I was very fortunate to help lead and grow the column during its early stages. Over the past year, our team edited, published, and promoted more than 30 articles written by a geographically and ethnically diverse cohort of aspiring urologists. I was consistently impressed by the range of insightful articles filled with nuanced perspectives that my peers were submitting to the MSC: powerful stories about how urologists are squashing stigma and catalyzing change for women’s sexual health, thought-provoking pieces on the need to diversify the urologic workforce to foster culturally sensitive care, and passionate calls to action for modernizing urologic education through formalized business and robotics curricula.

If 1 theme stood out, it was the value of community. As a formerly undifferentiated medical student facing a difficult decision at the end of my third year, a large part of what compelled me to pursue urology was the sense of familial camaraderie amongst urologists as well as urologists’ commitment to mentoring the next generation. The intent of the MSC was to build upon the sense of community within urology by having students share stories about their formative urology experiences while also promoting voices from students who may be underrepresented or disadvantaged in the application process. The MSC indeed proved itself to be a powerful outlet for creating connections and highlighting mentorship opportunities within the next generation of urologists; MSC authors wrote reflections on attending their first AUA and Society of Women in Urology conferences, lessons learned from the Boston Scientific Medical Student Innovation Fellowship, and the impact of the Michigan Urology Academy.

Moreover, the AUANews MSC team launched an interview series that enabled the editors to connect with young faculty who are doing trailblazing work in interdisciplinary spaces outside the clinical sphere, such as health care advocacy and artificial intelligence. Hearing their stories—learning how they transformed their ideas into projects that advance the delivery of urologic care for their patients—always left me feeling refreshed and energized. Passion is infectious, and distilling their experiences into actionable advice for aspiring urologists was a highlight of my experience as an MSC editor. In fact, the more time I spent working on the MSC team, the more I was reaffirmed that practicing and future urologists are an incredibly talented, multifaceted, and encouraging group of people. The opportunity to participate in the sharing of our specialty’s unique and collaborative accomplishments both inside and outside the operating room brought me great joy, and I was so happy to see that other medical students were avidly engaging with the column.

Reflecting on my tenure as an MSC editor, I feel that I have gained valuable skills with respect to generating and promoting content that engages with aspiring urologists’ current priorities. Prior to working on the AUANews MSC, like many other medical students, I had only participated in academic research from the author’s perspective: draft a manuscript, submit to a journal, and wait to hear back about acceptance, edits, or rejection. Working on the other side of journal publications has taught me a great deal about not only providing constructive editorial feedback but also feedback that tailors each piece to offer worthwhile insight to the reader. Editing the column was an exercise in curating thematically cohesive content across a range of trainee perspectives and topics. Moving forward, I hope that this work will push the progress needle forward for contemporary issues within the specialty of urology as a whole.

We all know that there’s no “I” in team, so I want to conclude by saying that I am thankful for the unwavering support of the larger AUANews publications team who encouraged me and the other editors to pursue our ambitious goals while fearlessly promoting our efforts to mature the column. I am also thankful for my 2 co-editors, Maria Antony and Yash Shah, whose passion and like-minded dedication to growing the MSC made my job seamless and our work productive. I hope that my work with the MSC has helped to invigorate at least 1 medical student’s interest in urology, and I can’t wait to see what the column’s newest editors, Andrew Afyouni, Avani Desai, and Linda Huynh, will do next!