The mission of the Society of Women in Urology (SWIU) is “to support the professional development and career advancement of women urologists and urologic researchers through education, advocacy, and mentorship.” SWIU offers many different opportunities for mentorship including the annual clinical mentoring conference in January, speed mentoring, a longitudinal mentor-mentee program, and resident travel awards to help residents in urology attend the annual conference. In recognition of the importance of mentorship to the mission of SWIU, a mentorship award is given every year at the annual meeting. The Christina Manthos Mentoring Award was first given in the year 2000. The award is to remember Dr Christina Manthos, a urologist whose career was cut short by breast cancer, and is given to honor men or women who demonstrate extraordinary mentoring skills in supporting the careers of women urologists. As the 2024 recipient of the Christina Manthos Mentoring Award, I was invited to speak at the SWIU breakfast at the AUA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, and I want to share my thoughts on this award and on mentorship.

My first SWIU event was in San Francisco in 2004. I was a fifth-year resident in urology and a new mother. While I don’t remember the details of the SWIU breakfast that year, I remember feeling very inspired. Each resident in my program was required to give a brief summary of our experience at the AUA Annual Meeting at Grand Rounds, and I spoke about the SWIU breakfast. My chairman (who was surprisingly progressive and trained several women residents both before and after me) asked me why there was no Society of Men in Urology. I told him that there was indeed. It was called the AUA. (Luckily, he had a good sense of humor, too.) The growth of both women in urology and the influence and impact of SWIU has increased tremendously since that time. I credit the SWIU leadership for their creative and often courageous efforts to support women in urology. I have also been blessed with amazing colleagues–both within and outside of my institution–who have believed in me, supported me, and pushed me. I have also been lucky to train an incredible group of women urologists over the years who continue to amaze me with their clinical skill and academic achievements.

Adam Grant tells us, “We worry about making our parents proud when we should be focused on making our children proud. The responsibility of each generation is not to please our predecessors–it’s to improve the conditions for our successors.”¹ To me, this is one of the core principles of being a mentor or a sponsor. It is not enough to give advice or even to give opportunities. To make the field of urology better for the women who come after us, we must advocate for change. Some of that change has already begun. The American Board of Urology has made it a little bit easier for residents to take parental leave and still be eligible to graduate residency on time. The Annual Meeting is no longer held on Mother’s Day Weekend (I spent my first Mother’s Day at the AUA). Even better, there is now childcare available at the AUA Annual Meeting. None of these changes would have happened without advocacy. Advocacy can mean attending the annual AUA Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC, and going to meetings on Capitol Hill, but it can also mean advocating within your department for equitable distribution of unpaid committee work.

In closing, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to SWIU, my mentors/sponsors, and especially the mentees who have trusted me to support their careers. I am so proud of how far women in urology have come since I first matched in 1999, and I am looking forward to seeing the future of urology filled with women.