Dear Colleagues,

At last, after a great deal of hard work, quick thinking and dedication we were excited to be hosting our first face to face meeting in 3 years in San Diego. I owe a huge tribute and debt of gratitude to Roger Sur and Jaime Landman together with the Li-Ming Su, our Secretary General, for stepping above and beyond to create a such an interesting and diverse programme with many topics not traditionally seen in the WCET. The theme of the meeting was the “Wave of the Future” and featured the latest technological advances in Endourology, Robotics and Focal Therapy. One always wants the first morning to have an impact and this year was no exception the plenary session included some very powerful talks relating to physician wellness and its impact on patient care and outcomes, recognising diversity and overcoming adversity – a truly memorable session with 4 standing ovations, something I haven’t seen in all my years attending WCET. The whole meeting came over as a resounding success and the aspects the delegates seemed to appreciate most was the opportunity to all be together again with a great programme, a venue that allowed us to mingle and interact, and a chance to meet with industry. It all sounds so simple but to bring it off demands a great deal of effort but it was all well worth it. For those who were unable to attend or missed any sessions then I would seriously suggest you take the opportunity to catch up on the meeting via the website.

We were also very fortunate to have had access to the magnificent state of the art UC San Diego “Future of Surgery” centre where we conducted a series of unique hands on courses. This centre gave a unique opportunity to hold a series of hands on courses in a variety of Endourological & Robotic fields and the delegates gained much from the close personal tuition with a world expert faculty.

The aim of Endourological Society is to improve the lives of patients with both benign and malignant urological conditions by reducing the morbidity of invasive treatments through novel technology, innovative techniques, and non-invasive medical management relevant to our discipline. However, the implications of the recent pandemic has forced many Urological Societies to re-evaluate their aims and ambitions in a time when we have had to look at alternative ways to share those novel techniques and innovative ideas which could have a huge benefit to patients and I am really grateful to Brian Matlaga (Director of Education), Brad Schwartz (Associate Director) and Ben Chew (Research Chair) for their ideas and innovations in delivering educational content which is meaningful and above all enjoyable. They remain committed to expanding our educational and research profile by promoting cutting edge research of new and innovative technologies whilst looking to new sources of funding through working to enhance our industry partnerships.

The success of the Society would not be possible without the support from you the members and for the expertise and advice that we have in our Executive Committee under the able leadership of Secretary General – Li-Ming Su, together with the incredible contribution of our Society Treasurer - Chandru Sundaram, in keeping us on a stable financial footing. Tributes must also be paid to the Committee chairs and members who play such an integral role in the running of this Society.

Our Society is in excellent shape and all credit has to be given to the efforts of our Executive Director, Michele Paoli, and the Executive Secretary, Debra Caridi. The position of President is totally dependent on their support and I cannot emphasize how highly I have come to regard their contribution and that of the whole Executive team. The Society office, shows how great things can be achieved with a dedicated small team and the real benefits of team-working. To keep this organiz

ation at the forefront of the current challenges demands commitment and strength of purpose and we are seen as one of the most dynamic of the Specialty Societies, for our size. Without their encouragement and assistance the role of President would be very challenging and I just want to record my real debt of gratitude to them both for everything they have done to make this Society such a success.

It has been a real honor and privilege to serve as your President for this year and I remain thoroughly committed to the continuing success of the Society and to further expand the reach of the Society through education, research, and training opportunities which will all benefit our patients.

I look forward to seeing you all next year in Jerusalem – a meeting which promises a fusion between history and the future - put it in your calendar now !!

Greetings to all society members and colleagues. I sincerely hope that you all remain safe and healthy amidst this continued COVID-19 pandemic. It is my pleasure to deliver the Secretary General’s report.

I would like to start with a hearty congratulations to our good friend and colleague, Steve Nakada, MD, who many of you are aware has been appointed the AUA President Elect. Our society is fortunate to have had many of its members serve in senior leadership roles within the AUA including more recently Raju Thomas, MD as AUA President and John Denstedt, MD as AUA Secretary as well as many others before them. This speaks to the strength and influence that our society members have on our parent urologic organization. Our society continues to remain extremely relevant as an organization by consistently grooming outstanding urologists and leaders.

I am hoping that many of you had the opportunity to attend our recent 2022 WCET meeting in San Diego in early October, led by Roger Sur, MD who did a phenomenal job as the local organizing president. This proved to be an outstanding meeting with a significantly higher attendance than originally planned. Simply to be back in person after two years of not having an in-person meeting was wonderful. All in attendance enjoyed the scientific sessions, the beautiful weather and camaraderie. In addition to the usual programming content in endourology, laparoscopy and robotic surgery, this year we included more content in BPH and focal therapy. We heard from a fantastic group of guest lecturers including local pro surfer, Scott Bass, who gave a lecture on the history of surfing, Peter Chang, MD (UC Irvine) who spoke on the future of artificial intelligence, Erin Sur (certified life coach) who provided a lecture on the topic of compassion, and finally Derek Herrera who spoke about his one personal experience that led him to dedicate his life to urologic research and innovation. Thanks to Roger Sur’s initiative and his team of exceptional course faculty, we offered several new and exciting hands-on courses a UC San Diego’s Center for the Future of Surgery that were extremely well received by attendees and industry partners alike.

At the President’s Reception, we had the opportunity to recognize this year’s award recipients including Raju Thomas, MD – Karl Storz Lifetime Achievement Award, Ravindra Sabnis, MD – Ralph Clayman “Mentor” Award, Silvia Proietti, MD – “Smith” Award, and Dave Ahonen (Boston Scientific) – Industry Award. In addition, the 2020 and 2021 Awardees were acknowledged with slides and signage during the meeting due to the fact that there was no in-person meeting the past two years and in order to recognize these outstanding awardees. We were able to acknowledge our society’s president Adrian Joyce, MD and the entire Executive Committee for their assistance and thoughtful input into this WCET meeting. Adrian Joyce ended the night by ‘passing of the torch’ to Peggy Pearle, who has ascended to the society president’s role as our very first female president!

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize our 10 student awardees, their clinical sites and hosts of our society’s 2022 summer student scholarships: Alec Sun (Cleveland Clinic – Smita De, MD and Steven Campbell, MD), David Gregory Gelikman (Vanderbilt University – Naren Nimmagadda, MD), Michael Zhu (Montefiore Medical Center – Alexander Small, MD), Dylan Z. Taylor (Upstate Medical University – Scott Wiener, MD), Chase Floyd (Vanderbilt University – Nick Kavoussi, MD), Alan Israel Shain (Boston University Medical Center – Shaun Wason, MD), Charis Renai Royal (University of Arizona-Tucson – David T. Tzou, MD), Gareth John Davies (Morriston Hospital, UK – Gokul Vignesh Kanda Swamy), Hooman Kamran (Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran – Abdolreza Haghpanah, MD), Thiago Kenzo Fugita (Hospital Universitario, Brazil – Oscar Fugita, MD). I want to thank all of the program directors who have agreed to work with these bright, young students and for grooming the next generation of endourologists.

As our society has grown in complexity, including BPH therapies and focal therapy, the Executive Committee has decided to revisit our society logo to be more representative of the growing number of technologies. After a very exciting open logo competition, three logos rose to the top including submissions by: Ashish Kakade (India – First Place), Seyed Hossein, Hosseini Sharifi and Mohammad Tavakkoli (UC Irvine) and Roxana Ramos-Carpinteyro (Cleveland Clinic). Concepts from these logos will be considered in developing our new society logo. We want to thank all of the logo competition participants for their extremely innovative, creative, and thoughtful submissions.

I will end by reminding all members about the dates for the upcoming WECT meetings.

WCET Dates:

As we continue to strive to increase our society’s membership and engagement, I turn to each of you to serve as ambassadors for our great society in inviting non-members to join and attend our society’s sessions during Endourology Society Day at the AUA in Chicago, IL as well as our next WCET meeting in Jerusalem.

2022 has been an exciting year for our Society with the WCET 2022 in San Diego after two years of virtual meetings. We truly appreciate Dr. Roger Sur for agreeing to host the meeting at short notice when the previously planned 2022 WCET in Seoul could not be held. The Society has embraced online resources with virtual meetings, webinars, Masterclasses, podcasts and a new website. This has allowed the society to remain committed to our membership despite the diminished revenue during the pandemic.

Dr. Raju Thomas, the recipient of the Storz Lifetime Achievement Award graciously donated his prize of $10000 to the World Endo Fund. He has been one of the most giving members of our Society with support to multiple initiatives. Support from members like him greatly help the Society continue to grow member benefits.

The Journal of Endourology recently celebrated the retirement of Dr. Arthur Smith from the Editorship of the Journal of Endourology. Drs. Arthur Smith and Ralph Clayman, along with Drs. Gopal Badlani and John Denstedt have established J Endo has the premier journal in minimally invasive urology. We are indebted to their vision and long-term leadership and commitment to our field. We have several initiatives to build on this foundation, to maintain the preeminence of the journal. A few journal cover, monthly review articles, Volume 4 of the Atlas, enhanced integration with Videourology, improved manuscript standards and communication with the Editorial board, reviewers and authors are some of the changes you will see in 2022 and beyond. The rejection rate is over 75% to maintain the high standards of the journal. Thank you very much to those who have been exceptional reviewers. The journal is as good as its authors and reviewers, to whom we are grateful. The leadership of Jaime Landman for the Journal and Mantu Gupta for Videourology has made these enhancements possible.

Truly appreciate working with Dr. Adrain Joyce, Li-Ming Su, Michele Paoli, Debra Caridi, Executive Committee and Board. We will remain committed to working for our membership while maintaining the financial well-being of the Society. Dr. Ashutosh Tewari has been phenomenal during his tenure as the President of SURS. Please join us at the inaugural World Congress of Robotic Surgery, the annual meeting of SURS, Dec 9-10, 2022 at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The goal of our committee is to improve research for our members by increasing collaborative efforts and to put like-minded researchers together. If you have an idea and need help, please contact us. We can help you develop your idea, find collaborators and help with infrastructure such as data capture and analysis. On our research website (www.endourology.org/research/current-tower-trials), you can find out more about the studies we have looking at the quality of life in kidney stone surgical treatments. Without looking at complications, or stone free rates, the simple question is –what is the QOL in patient who undergo shockwave lithotripsy vs ureteroscopy vs perbcutaneous nephrolithotomy? We have recently published a TOWER consensus statement on treatment and management of stone treatment during a pandemic (Scotland K, et al. PMID: 35019782). It goes through a Delphi process with input from 45 world experts in kidney stone disease how stones should be treated during a pandemic. Dr. Justin Ziemba and Dr. Joshua Stern have spearheaded our Quality of Life in stone studies and presented 2 abstracts at WCET 2021: the pain scores comparing ureteroscopy to percutaneous nephrolithotomy were similar and the social impact of ureteroscopy lasted <14 days while in PCNL, lasted >14 days. Dr. Thomas Tailly and Dr. Dirk Lange (PhD) are starting a study to look at the incidence and organisms that cause ureteral stent infection. Dr. Tailly is leading the PRAISE (PRedictive Accuracy of Initial Stone Burden Evaluation) study to look at the accuracy of stone burden evaluation and the outcome of stone disease treatment. Dr. Joe Liao is using artificial intelligence to help correctly identify urothelial carcinoma from endoscopic videos. The Endourological Society continues to head up the registry for the Olympus SOLTIVE laser outcomes (led by Drs. Olivier Traxer and Ben Chew) and for the Storz shockwave lithotripsy outcomes.

If you have ideas, or just want to get involved, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help you and help you further your research (www.endourology.org/research/contact-us-about-a-trial).

On behalf of the Education Committee, we hope you are having a happy and safe summer or winter depending upon your hemisphere. We are very excited to see you in San Diego, California for a great meeting that promises some new and many popular educational options as well as social events in one of the most pleasant and scenic cities of the world. There will be 16 educational courses offered at the WCET representing all areas of the Society. Additionally, semi-live surgeries will be front and center performed and narrated by world-renowned surgeons. Debates, panels, videos and a lot more will be featured at this venue.

Not having a meeting since 2019 has provided many challenges for the education of our members. However, the Masterclass has a proven track record that was quite successful. Because of the changing needs and demands of the global audience, we altered the 2022 classes to reflect these needs to have fewer courses that were more clinically oriented. These courses are still very well attended and downloads for all of the programming on the Society website continue to be quite robust. The Podcast series continues to fill the niche of short but concentrated topics perfect for the commute to work or 15-20 minute gaps in the day. The Podcast topics are representative of the Society domains including stones, robotics, focal therapy, and BPH.

As mentioned above, the Masterclass series will continue with novel topics and diverse panels. This past March of 2022 saw the first Masterclass programming event highlighting the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity topic based on the foundation of the newly created DEI Committee of the Endourological Society. This was well received and is certainly the first of many to come on this important issue.

One of our new initiatives includes industry specific broadcasts that will involve KOL’s speaking on specific products and devices. These will be educational and offer our constituency information on various products involving all of the specialties we represent.

As we move forward into the unknown, it is important that the Education Committee’s programming satisfies the needs and goals of the Society. To that end, your ideas on novel programming subjects, faculty, and formats are always welcome!

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

With 2022 winding down and 2023 right around the corner, I am filled with immense pride and honor at my association with SURS. This has been a wonderful year with amazing accomplishments.

I would like to start by mentioning that our SURS program at AUA 2022 has been an outstanding success. SURS program at AUA featured young surgeons for innovative techniques, semi-live surgeries, and debate sessions. Plenary Robotic sessions and 3 days of structured Robotic Theatre program were the keys highlights of AUA 2022 lead by SURS.

SURS have organized monthly masterclass webinars focusing on newer developments in robotic techniques, instrumentation and education giving an opportunity for young surgeons to participate, interact and contribute to the success of the program. Our webinars received an amazing response drawing 350-400 participants per webinar.

We have also planned meetings at the World congress of Endourology, Uro-technology and in collaboration with different societies all across the world. Our noteworthy achievement during to COVID situation with the help of Office of Education – SURS created structured education program to cover all aspect in the field Uro-oncology, Pediatrics, Urogynecology, Instrumentation, new developments, and research. Our upcoming annual SURS meeting will be held in December 2022.

I stay committed to advancing our mission to increase SURS membership and launch our global chapter initiative. This year, we have sponsored the membership of 100 resident/young endourologists. In our efforts to disseminate educational and technical expertise across the world, we have held meetings in the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and Europe, which has given worldwide recognition to SURS.

I wanted to say thank you for your support, and I applaud your continued backing in the future. Your dedication, loyalty and support which have enabled me to advance the SURS mission & WCET in a meaningful manner in the year 2022. Here is a toast to you!

The Focal Therapy Society (FTS) has been gearing up toward in-person symposia again. Our next FOCAL 2022 Symposium will be hosted by Arvin George MD and Abhinav Sidana MD in Beverly Hills CA, Sept 22-24, 2022. The FTS is also participating in the SIU and WCET events this year. The Focal Therapy Society is planning to hold a program at the upcoming AUA as part of the Endo Societies specialty event with SURS and EUS. We are currently planning our next 3 international meeting locations that should commence in June 2023.

The FTS has launched the Focal Therapy Society registry as a vehicle to foster collaboration and accumulate real-world data on image-guided targeted therapy outcomes. A half dozen sites have already successfully piloted the registry. The registry houses functional, oncological, mpMRI and QOL outcomes that incorporates all types of devices and treatment schematics. The database is RedCap-based, IRB approved and housed at Duke University. For those interested in participating and sharing data, please send a message to [email protected] to begin the process. Please support the registry! In regards to clinical trials, the FTS plans to function as a platform to host international collaborative trials. Dr Abhinav Sidana has secured corporate support to run the first clinical trial through the FTS.

Regarding education, the FTS has 2 societal publication projects that are ongoing. First, we have authored a white paper on primary ablation for localized prostate cancer, that will highlight the last 20 years featuring HIFU and cryosurgery. The second project is a systematic review of active surveillance for prostate cancer that will launch into a Delphi survey incorporating not only FTS members but also many of the worlds experts on the topic. Dr Jack Tay continues to host the FTS Tumor Boards that have provided members an opportunity to discuss challenging cases and management of cancer persistence. Dr Jella Barentz and Art Rastinehad plan to soon begin a hands-on MRI reading and image-targeting educational conference.

Finally, we are pursuing a membership and fundraising drive. The Partnership Committee meets every fortnight to encourage industry support of advanced imaging and minimally-invasive targeted therapies.

As the endourology community comes together in person at the World Congress of Endourology and Uro-Technology for the first time since 2019, the Social Media Committee is committed to helping all of us stay connected virtually. We encourage you to follow us @Endo_Society and use the official conference hashtag #WCET22 to follow the meeting, contribute to online discussions, and search the virtual content. Our Endourology Sound Bites podcast, hosted by associate director of education Dr. Bradley Schwartz, features leading voices in endourology and brings the newest frontiers of research, translational science, and clinical practice updates to your mobile device. You can enjoy the free series here or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Our committee will continue bringing Society members together through live meeting coverage, crowdsourcing initiatives, and enhanced virtual education. We encourage your participation and look forward to joining you in San Diego or on our virtual platforms!

Although the Covid-19 pandemic is not over, many of us are fortunate to be back seeing patients in the clinic and traveling to academic meetings. While there is no substitute for the social and networking benefits of in-person meetings, the Endourological Society’s website remains the most efficient and high-yield means of educating oneself in minimally-invasive urology. The site hosts nearly a hundred webinars from world-renowned urologists across the globe, and more webinars are being added every month.

We are also proud to have added a Diversity and Inclusion section to our website, overseen by Dr. Michelle Semins, the Endourological Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee chair. Two webinars have been hosted to date, dealing with gender equity in urology and the power of mentorship.

We have also rolled out a Speaker and Committee Portal. The portal was specifically designed to allow members to voice their interest in participating in the annual WCET meeting as a speaker, moderator, or educational course faculty member. In addition, members can indicate their interest in vacant committee positions. I encourage you to complete your profile and get involved in the society.

Have a great summer. I hope to see you in sunny San Diego at the WCET!

Happy Fall, Y’all!

The Endourology Society Data Committee has been working to assemble the data from over 500 Society members who contributed to the 2021 Endourology Society census. The formal manuscript been submitted for publication in the Journal of Endourology. There will also be a plenary presentation and poster discussing the data in more detail at the upcoming WCET in San Diego. Please attend the sessions and hear what y’all had to say. We also encourage your input on those questions and are interested in hearing any suggestions for future census questions. And speaking of the future census, at the close of WCET 2022, we will open the 2022 Endourology Society census. Stay tuned for an email invite to complete this year’s census. We want to hear from all of you! And we encourage our members from all points across the globe to complete the census. Every member’s voice needs to and deserves to be heard!

We continue to get your scholarly requests for surveys to submit to our membership. We are always energized and enthusiastic to hear about how our members want to query the group. Please continue to submit these engaging projects and then submit the results to the WCET and for publication in the Journal of Endourology.

Dear fellow members:

It is a delight to update you on the progress of the history committee. At our latest meeting, we have moved to formalize a history lecture at the WCE, and have also asked for considerations towards a “History of Endourology” abstract category. Hopefully someday soon we can have an entire abstract session devoted to the History of Endourology. A committee rotation has been established, please let us know if you would like to serve on this fun committee.

Since achieving official committee status, we have developed a website presence, planned out a virtual museum, had our first exhibit (History of PCNL), carried out our first history project (History of Endourology Fellows), and planned our first lecture on the plenary (WCET 2022). I am most grateful to all the members of the committee, the Exec and Board and Michele and Deb for their support. This year will mark the end of my term as Historian, concluding consecutive years of service to the Society since 2009, when I became the Society’s second Secretary General. As such, we will be seeking a new historian this year as well.

Thank you all for a great experience, the pleasure has been mine.

Name: Yasser Abdelsattar Noureldin, MD

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Urology, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

Duration of Visit: From June 30th to July 30th, 2022

Host Faculty and Institution: Prof. Olivier Traxer, Chairman of the Department of Urology at Tenon Hospital, Sorbonne University, Paris

During 2020, I felt so happy when I received a letter from the Endourological Society congratulating me for being chosen among the winners of the International Traveling Scholarship. This scholarship provides the fund for one-month clinical or academic visit to one of the world-wide centers which possess a fellowship program accredited by the Endourological Society. I chose to obtain a mini-fellowship in Retrograde Intra-Renal Surgery from the Department of Urology at Tenon Hospital in Paris under direct supervision of Prof. Olivier Traxer. However, I was not able to start my fellowship because of the lockdown which was started in most of the countries all over the word due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years later, the global situation of the pandemic was improved, and I was able to start my fellowship. My visit started in Amsterdam where I spent four days to attend and chair an abstract session entitled “Virtual Platforms and the Future of Urology” during the first physical EAU meeting after the pandemic.

I arrived Paris on June 4th and I had a meeting with Prof. Traxer and his team to discuss the plan for the fellowship program. This was followed by an orientation tour for the hospital included the Department of Urology, the outpatient clinic, the SWL unit, and the operating theatre. Next day, we had a research meeting in the morning, and I had the opportunity to see the laboratory of Prof. Traxer and we spent the day doing an ex-vivo laser experiments which will be submitted for publication. I had the opportunity to see a significant number of RIRS for different indications such as laser lithotripsy for renal stones, Endoscopic management of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC), Endoscopic management of stones in a calyceal diverticulum, and Endoscopic management of ureteral stricture. In addition, I had the opportunity for networking with the residents, the fellows and other visiting faculty such as Dr Marcelo Esteves Chaves Campos who is an eminent Urologist in Brazil and the coordinator of the Endourology section of the Brazilian Society of Urology (SBU). I felt happy when Prof. Traxer tweeted about my visit and I enjoyed the reflections from our friends on Twitter.

On the entertainment side, I had some fun while using the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, and I enjoyed visiting some important places in Paris such as the Eiffel tower, Louis Vuitton Foundation, the Grand Mosque in Paris, Parc Monceau, Val d'Europe and the “Arc de Triomphe” at the Champs-Élysées and Place Charles de Gaulle. During one of the long weekends, due to the national day of France on July 14th, I travelled to Vienna and visited the Vienna Opera house, the Volksgarten, the Schonbrunn Palace, the Islamic Center of Vienna on Danube river, and the Stadt park.

I really enjoyed my stay in Paris and the privilege to join the team of Prof. Traxer for this short productive period. We agreed to continue future clinical and academic collaboration through exchange visits to our clinical fellows and PhD students.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Traxer for the warm welcome and the support throughout the visit, and I look for the future clinical and academic collaboration. Moreover, I thank the Endourological Society for giving me this wonderful opportunity and providing the fund necessary for this visit. Finally, I must thank Michele Paoli, the executive director, for her cooperation and support throughout the journey to complete this fellowship.

Dr. Metzler works with IVUmed to coordinate projects in Trinidad & Tobago. As he explains, surgical workshops have been hosted in-country for many years. However, the impact is narrowly focused on a few senior urologists who assist in the OR. During the workshops, there is tremendous interest to learn from medical students, residents and faculty alike. “There is, quite literally, a line out the OR door.” Dr. Metzler is working to incorporating surgical simulation into surgical workshops to allow for a greater breadth of skills to be taught to more trainees at every level. For the first phase of this project, he has developed surgical simulation tools and a curriculum and hands-on workshop that can be performed with low-cost, reproducible kidney models.

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

What an amazing time we had at the 39th World Congress of Endourology and Uro-Technology 2022 (WCET 2022) here in San Diego, CA on October 1st-October 4th.

We enjoyed seeing so many of you from different parts of the world. Feedback from many of you included an incredible learning experience from the Hands on Course that served over 150 attendees, 50 international faculty, 17 Industry partners. Educational courses throughout the congress each morning were also well attended and provided the latest in techniques and updates to Endourology.

We had numerous attendees remark how well the Plenary sessions flowed with both semi-live surgeries and moderated discussions. The plenaries educated us about new Robotic platforms coming our way, how Artificial Intelligence will become common place, and both Year in Review and History (Past, Present and Future) of each Endourology domain.

Hopefully each of you also better understand the myths of being more inclusive as well as the importance of taking care of the most important patient—i.e. you the doctor! The 39th WCET was a springboard for exciting changes in our field and a chance to understand the importance of self-care—so that we can care for others better.

Thank you to all our attendees, Industry partners and incredible faculty. See you in Jerusalem in 2023!