American urological association

2022

Annual Report

Advocacy
Collaborated with key stakeholders to comment on Calendar Year 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and worked to mitigate a 4.6% cut to the conversion factor.
Worked with legislators to introduce federal legislation to form a loan repayment program for specialty physicians practicing in rural areas (S. 4330, Specialty Physicians Advancing Rural Care Act).
Worked with the U.S. Congress to enact federal legislation to provide a clinical pathway for prostate cancer care within the VA health system (H.R. 4880, Veterans’ Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act).
Secured AUA-led Telehealth Report Language in the Fiscal Year 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill.
Hosted Kidney Cancer Impact Alliance, Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance, and Bladder Health Alliance meetings and Hill days at AUA Headquarter and DC offices (all first time in-person meetings since the start of the pandemic).
Held first in-person Annual Urology Advocacy Summit since 2019 with more than 200 attendees and 175 Capitol Hill visits.
Accomplished $15 million increase for Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program within Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.

The Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance (PCIA) hosted three webinars as part of the Impact Diversity in Urology series focusing on racial disparities in urology, men who have sex with men and their battle with prostate cancer, and emotional wellness. The PCIA also advocated for support of the PSA 4 HIM Screening Act (H.R. 1176) on Capitol Hill as a full alliance.

Hosted Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) virtual briefing for Congressional staff, which included researchers, AUA Office of Research, and patient advocates.

The Kidney Cancer Impact Alliance (KCIA) held their first in-person full alliance meeting in Washington, D.C. while advocating to House representatives on the need and importance for funding towards Kidney Cancer Research.

Hosted Patient Advocacy Connections Program (PACP) during the AUA Advocacy Summit including participation from more than nineteen patient, physician, and research advocacy organizations. AUA members, allied health professionals and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry participated in roundtable discussions.

Held three webinars as a part of the Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance’s Impact on Urology series. Webinar topics included increasing Black or African American medical school students picking urology, Men Who Have Sex with Men and Emotional Wellness within the prostate cancer space.

Education
Education and International Programs
113
Office of Education Committee Members
134
accredited educational activities including launch of leadership and business education
31,739
hours of CME claimed through AUAUniversity
73
international leadership meetings
68
international educational activities including those in Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin
28
academic exchange and visiting scholars (11 from USA, 17 international)
7
international resident scholars (from Brazil, India, Japan)
1,231,735
questions answered in SASP app
55,861
page views of AUA Urology Core Curriculum
2,180
participants in the 2022 In-Service and OKAT exams
9,101
downloads of the Update Series AudioBook
275,676
AUAUniversity podcast plays
590,454
total video plays on AUAUniversity YouTube channel
AUA Annual Meeting

The AUA reunited the world of urology in New Orleans in May 2022 for the first live Annual Meeting since 2019, and the energy of that meeting was extraordinary as people were delighted to finally reconnect and re-engage in person. The 2022 Annual Meeting also offered an online learning option to ensure that those who were still unable to travel could access the very latest advances of our specialty from wherever they are in the world. Nearly 12,000 registrants took part in AUA2022, representing all 50 states and 96 countries around the globe. Nearly 10,000 of those attended the live meeting in New Orleans.

2,088
Abstracts Presented
199
Plenary Speakers
318
Instructional Course Faculty
396
Program Moderators
421
Sessions Available On Demand
19,669
Session Views
10,899
Minutes Streamed

AUA2022 featured an array of innovative new sessions, including:

Research

Established Innovation Nexus, the first-of-its-kind research incubator powered by the AUA. The inaugural Innovation Nexus event will occur April 27, 2023 just prior to the AUA Annual Meeting in Chicago, and will give startups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investors and urologists the opportunity to come together to ignite urologic discovery like never before.

Launched the Boston Scientific Medical Student Innovation Fellowship to fund a 12-month research project for a medical student interested in translating urology research into innovation. Strong preference to award applicants from groups underrepresented in urology and/or projects focused on health disparities.

Hosted the 10th annual Early Career Investigators Workshop at AUA Headquarters to help promising urologic researchers develop grant writing skills.

Doubled the number of accepted mentees to the Urology Scientific Mentoring and Research Training (USMART) program from five to ten and met the goal that at least 50% of mentees would be from groups traditionally underrepresented in the scientific and biomedical workforce.

2022 Office of Research Awards
$1.548

million in grant funding

48

researchers supported

39%

women awardees

27%

Underrepresented in Medicine (URM) awardees

Data
AUA Annual Census
  • Published AUA Census report on U.S. urologists, The State of Urology Workforce and Practice in the United States in 2021.

  • Published AUA Census report on U.S. residents and fellows, 2020-2021 Urologists in Training.

  • Published A Special 2021 AUA Census Report: Practicing Urologists by AUA Section.

Explore the Census Reports
AUA Statistical Services
  • Published four articles on peer-reviewed journals on the topics around professional burnout of advanced practice providers, demographic and practice trends of rural urologists in the U.S., patterns of surgical management of male stress urinary incontinence, and anticholinergic polypharmacy in the U.S.

  • Proposed AUA Data Research Program to be launched in May 2023 to annually award six projects using AUA data starting from January 2024. The research-friendly datasets from both AUA Census and the AQUA Registry with data dictionaries will be available in February 2023.

AQUA
  • The AUA Quality Registry (AQUA) was approved by CMS as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for the 2022 MIPS reporting year.

  • AQUA now includes more than 50 physician performance measures, including 16 measures that are urology-relevant.

  • AUA strengthened the collaboration with IntrinsiQ Specialty Solutions (IQSS), an EHR company, resulting in 140 new practices with approximately 800 providers joining the AQUA Registry.

  • AQUA now includes 10 million unique patients in the AQUA Registry with various urologic conditions and more than 70 million patient encounters.

LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS

In 2022, the AUA launched the AUA Institute for Leadership & Business, an initiative dedicated to providing education, training and resources to support leadership development and business acumen within the urology community. The AUA recognizes the tremendous value of business and leadership training for all urology professionals — throughout all stages of their career.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

The AUA offers an array of programming designed to nurture future leaders in urology. From the esteemed Leadership Program to Speed Mentoring, AUA is committed the leadership development of its members.

BUSINESS EDUCATION

From live courses to webinars and podcasts, the AUA’s business education offerings cover the topics most relevant to urologists and urology practice professionals.

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT & CODING

From the Coding Hotline to the Practice Managers’ Network, the AUA offers education and resources to meet the evolving needs of the practice team.

Membership
In 2022, AUA had more than 24,000 members representing 129 countries around the globe!
Our members are at the core of everything we do!

Our members volunteer countless hours each year to support the AUA mission, and their tireless efforts are critical to the work we do.

In 2022, 500+ member volunteers served on 50+ Councils, Committees and Workgroups.

New Chief Diversity Officer and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee

In July 2022, the AUA announced the appointment of Larissa Bresler, MD, DABMA, as AUA’s new Chief Diversity Officer and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee Chair. Dr. Bresler began her three-year term on August 1, 2022.

In November 2022 the AUA announced the 13 inaugural members of the D&I Committee.

Dr. Bressler and the DEI Committee are tasked with advising the AUA Board of Directors on shaping and executing diversity initiatives in accord with the recommendations of the AUA's Diversity & Inclusion Task Force. The Committee will also be responsible for identifying and advising the Board on potential solutions to meet diversity gaps within the AUA organizational programs; collaborating with AUA Program Councils on the implementation of diversity initiatives and methods to recruit, support and retain diverse AUA leaders and volunteers.

The Committee has representation from all eight sections of the AUA as well as a diversity of gender, race, sexual orientation, practice type and specialty which will provide the diversity of thought that is necessary to move DEI initiatives forward.

The inaugural DEI Committee includes:

  • Denise Asafu-Adjei, MD, MPH, Director of Male Reproductive Medicine and Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology and the Department of Public Health Sciences, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

  • Gregory Broderick, MD, Professor of Urology, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine; Program Director, Urology Residency, Mayo Clinic Florida

  • Pamela Coleman, MD, FACS, FPMRS, Associate Professor of Urology, Department of Surgery, OBGYN, Howard University School of Medicine; Interim Chief of Urology, Howard University Hospital

  • Gabriela Gonzalez, MD, Urology Resident Physician, University of California, Davis

  • Tomas Griebling, MD, MPH, FACS, FGSA, AGSF, John P. Wolf 33rd Degree Masonic Distinguished Professor Urology, Department of Urology, Faculty Associate, The Landon Center on Aging, The University of Kansas School of Medicine

  • Nathan Grunewald, MD, FACS, Chief Medical Innovation Officer and Urology Medical Director, Sauk Prairie Healthcare

  • Lourdes Guerrios, MD, Urology Attending, Urology Section, Surgery Department, Introductory Research Program Co-Director, VA Caribbean Healthcare System; Research Program Director, Puerto Rico Trauma Center; Assistant Professor, Surgery Department, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine

  • Justin Han, MD, Assistant Professor of Urology, Hofstra-Northwell Zucker School of Medicine; Director of Male Reconstructive Urology, Smith Institute for Urology, Northwell Health; Chair for Quality in the Department of Urology, North Shore University Hospital

  • Linda McIntire, MD, Urologist, MyMichigan Health; President, R. Frank Jones Urological Society

  • Michelle Jo Semins, MD, Professor, West Virginia University School of Medicine; Chief, Division of Urology, West Virginia University Wheeling Hospital

  • Gjanje Smith-Mathis, MD, MPH, Staff Urologist, WakeMed Health and Hospitals

  • Simone Thavaseelan, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery/Urology and Program Director of the Urology Residency, Brown University; Chief, Section of Urology, Providence VA Medical Center

  • Vijaya Vemulakonda, JD, MD, Professor of Pediatric Urology, Director of Research and Residency Program Director, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine

2022 Urology Residency Match

143 registered and accredited training programs

556 match participants

365 positions filled (74% match rate)

180 female participants with a match rate of 72% among females (130 matched)

White
Other
Unknown
Hispanic
American Indian / Alaskan Native
Asian
Black / African-American
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
2023 Urologic Fellowship Matches

Andrology, Endourology, Urologic Oncology, Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgery on and Pediatric Urology.

143 fellowship programs

167 total vacancies

134 total vacancies matched

218 applicants submitting lists

134 applicants matched

Guidelines

Two new Guidelines were published on Localized Prostate Cancer and Non-Ischemic Priapism in addition to updates to Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome, Recurrent UTIs in Women, and Vesicoureteral Reflux.

Guidelines web pages logged over 1.1 million views in 2022.

The W.P. Didusch Center for Urologic History

In May 2022, the AUA/William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History in-person History Booth Exhibit was back with the Ins and Outs of Sexual Health, co-curated by Irwin Goldstein, MD and Sue Goldstein, CCRC of San Diego Sexual Medicine. Despite fewer international attendees, the booth and talks were visited by over 1,000 urology-care providers, bringing contemporary attention to the history (or lack thereof) of female sexual dysfunction and treatment. The Museum Store, with new items relating to female sexual health, brought in over $16,200.

2022 History Booth Social Media Impressions
80,270

AUA Highlights
(total)

13,309‬

Instagram

5,736

Facebook

61,225

Twitter
(total)

48,598

Pre-May 12
(total)

The 2022 AUA Forum on the History of Urology kicked off with a Medical Ethics Debate: The Inflatable Penile Prosthesis is First Line Therapy for ED between Drs. Helen Levey Bernie and Gerald Brock. Based on a superb rebuttal, judges declared Dr. Brock the debate winner.

The 2022 Annual Frank Bicknell History of Urology Oration was given by co-curator of the History Exhibit, Sue Goldstein on Words Matter - Tracing the Language of Sexual Dysfunction.

The 2022 AUA Earl Nation Retrospectroscope Award was presented to Shreeya Popat, MD for “VAGINA" Is Not a Bad Word: Historical and Contemporary Censorship of The Word "Vagina”. Honorable Mention was awarded to Jonathan Xu, MD for Think Inside the Box: Wilhelm Reich’s Theories on Orgasm and the Orgone.

Publications

At the beginning of 2022, Dr. Robert Siemens began his tenure as Editor of The Journal of Urology®. His focus on Editorial Board engagement, open peer review, and implementation of an Early Career Editor program have been noteworthy. He also initiated a DEI education series for the Ed Board, which provides insights from editorial leaders in scholarly publishing outside of urology about their important efforts in this area. The Journal of Urology® earned its highest Journal Impact Factor to date: 7.60.

Urology Practice®’s impact continues to grow year over year as evidenced by weekly and monthly Altmetrics reports showing the wide reach of dissemination of articles in the press, social media, and beyond. The Journal’s Editorial Board showcases global talent notable for diversity across career stage, specialty, practice type, gender, race, and ethnicity.

JU Open Plus, the AUA’s new Gold Open Access journal, opened for submission in August 2022. Dr. John Davis is the inaugural Editor, and he and his editorial team have already accepted multiple papers for publication in January 2023, the journal’s first issue.

Our dedicated volunteer peer reviewers completed 3,647 reviews in 2022 (3,195 for The Journal of Urology®, 430 for Urology Practice®, and 22 for JU Open Plus).

The AUA’s scholarly journals are proud to have the most citations and the largest number of social media followers in all of urology.

AUANews published its second ever “Celebrating Diversity with the AUA” focus issue in April 2022, doubling the content offered the previous year.

Quality & Measurement

Hosted AUA’s in-person QI Summit session Laying the Foundation for Primary Palliative Care in Urology

Updated The Implementation of Shared Decision Making into Urological Practice

Released Controversies, Confusion, and the Future of Urologic Post-Operative Opioid Prescribing Reduction Strategies via podcast and webinar

Posted 7 new Engage with Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (E-QIPS) guides

Conducted empirical reliability and validity testing for urology-specific measures supported through the AQUA Registry

Released Integration in Action: A Focus on Urologic Oncology Care Through Medically Integrated Dispensing

Released Advancing Health Equity: Addressing Disparities in Prostate Cancer Care

Developed the 2022 MIPS Toolkit

FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP

As a membership organization, we recognize our members trust us to be strong financial stewards of their dues dollars. Our commitment to the urologic community’s goals – combined with responsible financial investments – helps to ensure the AUA will be here to support the specialty and a community for decades to come.

2022 Revenue
annual meeting (14,252,207)
38%
Publications (6,363,109)
17%
Membership (7,154,495)
19%
Education & International Programs (6,600,336)
18%
Public Policy & Advocacy (199,060)
1%
Research (261,497)
1%
Science & Quality (1,864,969)
5%
Other (UMS, misc & G&A) (739,362)
2%
Total (37,435,035)
100%
2022 Expenses
annual meeting (7,332,965)
20%
Publications (3,451,034)
9%
Membership (3,526,447)
10%
Education & International Programs (6,963,607)
19%
Public Policy & Advocacy (4,348,051)
12%
Research (1,421,875)
4%
Science & Quality (6,512,063)
18%
Other (UMS, misc & G&A) (3,415,181)
9%
Total (36,971,223)
100%
Urology Care Foundation

The Urology Care Foundation is the official foundation of the American Urological Association and is powered by the trusted experts and members of the AUA. UCF’s goal is to be the leader in improving health care for urologic patients worldwide by supporting research, providing education and advancing humanitarian initiatives. This year was filled with accomplishments to help us fulfill that goal.

Research

Our investigator award programs are essential to the development of young urology researchers and provide critical support to develop the field’s future research leaders (to date we have funded over 950 young scientists).

This year the Foundation:

  • Provided more than $1.5 million in funding to forty-nine early career investigators to support their pursuit of discoveries and breakthroughs in patient care in 11 urologic disease/condition areas. The awardee’s included 19 women and 13 from communities underrepresented in urology.

  • Supported three inaugural recipients of the Leadership in Education, Achievement and Diversity (LEAD) Program as they began their mentored research projects.

  • Announced the new Boston Scientific Medical Student Innovation Award Program.

Patient Education

The Foundation continues to grow as the single largest repository in the world for urologic patient education aligned with current AUA clinical guidelines.

This year the Foundation:

  • Welcomed more than 12 million visitors to our website, Urologyhealth.org, providing access to more than 600 pieces of physician-led patient education for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers.

  • Expanded its global presence with translated patient education in 9 languages aiming to reach those facing urologic cancers and conditions. More than 100 Spanish patient education materials were made available to the public with a digital Spanish Resource Center.

  • Addressed diversity, inclusion and disparities in care within its scope of patient education with more than a dozen new resources around Latino and African American Men’s Health, Black Women’s Health and Adult Gender Affirmation.

Patient Advocacy

The AUA and UCF teams had a busy year supporting patient advocacy efforts:

  • Lead and provided collaboration opportunities between four patient, physician and research advocacy organizations including, Patient Advocacy Connections, Bladder Health Alliance, Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance, Kidney Cancer Impact Alliance.

  • Provided patient advocacy organizations the opportunity to showcase patient-centered resources, and encourage interaction and dialogue about collaboration tactics that effectively promote patient advocacy policy agendas.

  • Rebranded our two AUA/UCF-led patient alliances, the Prostate Cancer Impact Alliance and the Kidney Cancer Impact Alliance.

Humanitarian Support

The Foundation recognizes and supports the work of urologists who are making outstanding contributions to improve urologic health in underserved areas both within and outside the U.S.

This year the Foundation:

  • Awarded the Humanitarian Recognition Award presented to Sakti Das, MD, for decades of service to patients in underserved areas across the globe, his passion for teaching and for supporting humanitarian initiatives in urology.

  • Awarded 7 Humanitarian grants supporting humanitarian projects in Belize, India, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, Florida, and New York.

Learn More About Our Global Mission
Team

Nearly 24,000 individuals make up the AUA, but our Sections, Specialty Societies and International Partners are building blocks that help strengthen our community. Thank you to all of our 2022 partners and supporters!

AUA Sections
Mid-Atlantic
New England
New York
North Central
Northeastern
South Central
Southeastern
Western
Specialty Societies
Engineering and Urology Society (E&U)
Geriatric Urological Society (GUS)
Indian American Urological Association (IAUA)
R. Frank Jones Urological Society (RFJUS)
Research on Calculus Kinetics Society (R.O.C.K.)
Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA)
Society for Basic Urologic Research (SBUR)
Society for Fetal Urology (SFU)
Society for Infection and Inflammation in Urology (SII)
Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR)
Society of Academic Urologists (SAU)
Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons (GURS)
Society for Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine and Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU)
Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO)
Society of Women in Urology (SWIU)
The Societies for Pediatric Urology (SPU)
Urologic Society for Transplantation and Renal Surgery (USTRS)
AUA International Programs Society Partners
North/Central America
Asociación Costarriense de Cirugia Urologica
Asociación Guatemalteca de Urología
Asociación Hondureña de Urología
Asociación Nicaragüense de Urología
Asociación Salvadoreña de Urología
Asociación Urologica Centro America y el Caribe
Canadian Urological Association
Caribbean Urological Association
Colegio Mexicano de Urología Nacional
Global Association for the Support of Haitian Urology
Indian American Urological Association
Jamaica Urological Society
Sociedad Cubana de Urología
Sociedad Dominicana de Urología
Sociedad Mexicana de Urología
Sociedad Panameña de Urología
Societe Haitienne D’Urologie
Societe Internationale d'Urologie
South America
Confederación Americana de Urología
Sociedad Argentina de Urología
Sociedad Boliviana de Urología
Sociedade Brasileira de Urología
Sociedad Chilena de Urología
Sociedad Colombiana de Urología
Sociedad Ecuatoriana de Urología
Sociedad Peruana de Urología
Sociedad Uruguaya de Urología
Sociedad Venezolana de Urologia
Europe
Asociación Española de Urología
Associação Lusófona de Urologia
Associação Portuguesa de Urologia
Association Francaise d'Urologie
British Association of Urological Surgeons
Deutsche Gessellschaft für Urologie
European Association of Urology
Hibernian Urology Society
International Continence Society
Polish Urological Association
Societá Italiana di Urologia
Asia/Middle East
Arab Association of Urology
Asian Urological Surgery Training and Education Group
Bangladesh Association of Urological Surgeons
Chinese Urological Association
Chinese Urological Doctors Association
Egyptian Urological Association
Emirates Urological Society
Japanese Urological Association
Korean Urological Association
Kuwait Urological Association
l’Association Marocaine d’Urologie
Maghrebine Federation of Urology
Malaysian Urological Association
Pan Arab Continence Society
Society of Urological Surgery in Turkey
Thai Urological Association
Turkish Association of Urology
Urological Association of Asia
Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand
Urological Society of India
Vietnam Urology and Nephrology Association
Africa
Egyptian Urological Association
Pan African Urological Surgeons Association
Australia
Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand
AUA Board of Directors
Officers
Edward M. Messing, MD, FACS
President
Randall B. Meacham, MD
President-elect
Raju Thomas, MD, FACS, FRCS, MHA
Immediate Past President
John D. Denstedt, MD, FRCSC, FACS, FCAHS
Secretary
David F. Penson, MD, MPH
Secretary-elect
Thomas F. Stringer, MD, FACS
Treasurer
Michael T. Sheppard, CPA, CAE
Chief Executive Officer
Section Representatives
Kurt A. McCammon, MD
Mid-Atlantic Section
Arthur E. Tarantino, MD
New England Section
Reza Ghavamian, MD
New York Section
James C. Ulchaker, MD, FACS
North Central Section
Hassan Razvi, MD, FRCSC
Northeastern Section
Damara L. Kaplan, MD, PhD
South Central Section
Martin K. Dineen, MD, FACS
Southeastern Section
Eric Zeidman, MD, FACS
Western Section
Councils, Committees & Editorial Boards

The AUA is thankful for the more than 600 urologists who volunteered on 38 AUA Council, Committees and Editorial Boards in 2022. The steadfast commitment of our volunteers and staff help us deliver on our mission and promise as we advance urology around the world.

Education
Education Council
Advanced Practice Providers Education Committee
Leadership & Business Education Committee
Medical Student Education Committee
New Technologies & Imaging Committee
Update Series Editorial Committee
Urology Core Curriculum Committee
Urologic Video Education Committee
Publications
AUANews Editorial Committee
Publications Committee
The Journal of Urology® Editorial Board
JU Open Plus Editorial Board
Urology Practice Editorial Board
Research
Research Council
Research Education, Conferences & Communications Committee
Research Grants & Investigative Support Committee
Science & Quality
Science & Quality Council
Data Committee
Practice Guidelines Committee
Quality Improvement & Patient Safety Committee
Public Policy
Public Policy Council
Coding & Reimbursement Committee
Legislative Affairs Committee
Research Advocacy Committee
State Advocacy Committee
Membership
Section Secretaries Membership Council
Advanced Practice Providers Membership Committee
History Committee
International Members Committee
Residents & Fellows Committee
Young Urologists Committee
Governance
AUA/AUAER Board of Directors
Awards Committee
Bylaws Committee
Diversity & Inclusion
Finance Committee
Judicial & Ethics Committee
Public Media Committee