Medical students, residents and fellows are invited to participate in the ninth annual AUA Residents and Fellows Committee essay contest.

Theme: Beyond the Chart: Patients as Teachers

Urology, a surgical field rooted in technical advancement and clinical expertise, uniquely fosters surgeon-patient connections formed in moments of vulnerability. While textbooks provide a ubiquitous exposure to anatomy, pathology, and surgical techniques, arguably the most enduring lessons come from our patients. This essay contest invites trainees to reflect on a patient encounter that shaped their understanding of what it means to provide care as a urologist. Explore how this experience formed your approach to empathy, compassion, clinical decision-making, and forced you to move beyond the chart with your patient as your teacher.

Requirements and Deadline

Essays should be no more than 500 words and will be judged on clarity and impact of the writing, relevance to the theme and applicability to urologists and urology trainees.

NEW for 2026! Essays and applications will now be collected through the ProposalCentral platform. If you have not previously signed in to ProposalCentral, you will need to create an account before starting the application.

All nominations must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 12, 2026.

The winning essay will be:

• Submitted for publication in AUANews
• Recognized at the AUA2026 Residents Forum program in Washington, DC
• Published on the AUA website
• Awarded a $250 e-Gift Card

Use of AI

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript for the Residents and Fellows Committee Essay Contest must abide by the following guidelines.

Authorship

Essays must be an original work produced by the author. All ideas and/or concepts presented in the manuscript that are not the original work of the author must be properly attributed and/or cited. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics. Authors of an Essay Contest submission must be human.

Acceptable AI Usage

AI tools may not be used in the generation of original content. Authors are therefore prohibited from uploading essay prompts into GenAI tools. As outlined by the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers, acceptable uses of AI are limited to those that do not substantially alter the ideas and/or concepts of the manuscript, such as “refining, correcting, formatting, and editing texts and documents.”

Past AUA Residents and Fellows Committee Essay Contest Winners

2025

Rashed Rowaiee, MBBS - 2025 Grand Prize Winner
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Read Dr. Rowaiee’s winning essay.

Bryce Baird, MD – 2025 Honorable Mention
Fellow, Urology Clinics of North Texas
Read Dr. Baird’s essay.

Ashley Matthew, MD, PhD – 2025 Honorable Mention
Chief Resident, Virginia Commonwealth University
Read Dr. Matthew’s essay.

Kelley Zhao, MD – 2025 Honorable Mention
Resident, Temple University Hospital
Read Dr. Zhao’s essay.

2024

Courtney Yong, MD - 2024 Grand Prize Winner
Fellow, Indiana University
Read Dr. Yong's winning essay.

Rebecca Howland, MD - 2024 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Michigan
Read Dr. Howland’s essay.

Kiran Sury, MD - 2024 Honorable Mention
Fellow, Duke University
Read Dr. Sury's essay.

Jonathan Xu, MD – 2024 Honorable Mention
Resident, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
Read Dr. Xu's essay.

2023

Nicolas Seranio, MD - 2023 Grand Prize Winner
Resident, Stanford University
Read Dr. Seranio's winning essay.

Madeleine Ball, BS - 2023 Honorable Mention
Medical Student, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Read Madeleine Ball’s essay.

Baine Herrera, MD - 2023 Honorable Mention
Resident, Texas ATM/Baylor Scott and White Temple Memorial
Read Dr. Herrera's essay.

Hannah Kay, MD – 2023 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Read Dr. Kay's essay.

2022

Avi Baskin, MD - 2022 Grand Prize Winner
Resident, University of California, San Francisco
Read Dr. Baskin's winning essay.

Laurence Hou, MD - 2022 Honorable Mention
Resident, Hackensack University Medical Center
Read Dr. Hou's essay.

Utsav S. Shah - 2022 Honorable Mention
Fellow, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences
Read Dr. Shah's essay.

Kiran Sury, MD – 2022 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Pennsylvania
Read Dr. Sury's essay.

2021

Courtney Yong, MD - 2021 Grand Prize Winner
Resident, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Read Dr. Yong's winning essay.

Kiran Sury, MD - 2021 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Pennsylvania
Read Dr. Sury's essay.

Esther Nivasch Turner, MD - 2021 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Pennsylvania
Read Dr. Nivasch Turner's essay.

Wesley Yip, MD – 2021 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Southern California
Read Dr. Yip's essay.

2020

Meghan A. Cooper, DO, MA - 2020 Grand Prize Winner
Resident, University of South Florida
Read Dr. Cooper's winning essay.

Paulette C. Dreher, DO - 2020 Honorable Mention
Resident, Main Line Health
Read Dr. Dreher's essay.

Lauren Poniatowski, MD, MS - 2020 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Washington
Read Dr. Poniatowski's essay.

Blair Townsend, MD, MBA - 2020 Honorable Mention
Resident, Carolinas Medical Center at Atrium Health
Read Dr. Townsend's essay.

2019

Karen Wheeler, MD, PhD - 2019 Grand Prize Winner
Fellow, University of Texas Health Center San Antonio
Read Dr. Wheeler's winning essay.

George Goucher, MD - 2019 Honorable Mention
Resident, McMaster University
Read Dr. Goucher's essay.

Blair Townsend, MD, MBA - 2019 Honorable Mention
Resident, Carolinas Medical Center at Atrium Health
Read Dr. Townsend's essay.

JJ Zhang, MD- 2019 Honorable Mention
Resident, Cleveland Clinic
Read Dr. Zhang's essay.

2018

Unwanaobong Nseyo, MD - 2018 Grand Prize Winner
Resident, University of California, San Diego
Read Dr. Nseyo's winning essay.

Julia Fiuk, MD - 2018 Honorable Mention
Resident, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Read Dr. Fiuk's essay.

Natalie Hartman - 2018 Honorable Mention
Medical Student, University of Southern California
Read Natalie Hartman's essay.

Ramphis Morales-López, MD - 2018 Honorable Mention
Resident, University of Puerto Rico
Read Dr. Morales-López's essay.

Nathan Wong, MD - 2018 Honorable Mention
Resident, McMaster University
Read Dr. Wong's essay.