I hope that you are all as excited as I am to finally have a firm plan for PFD Week 2021! Although we could not make Montreal work this year, the alternative location at the Arizona Grand Resort and Spa just outside of Phoenix is going to be a great venue to see each other again. AUGS will be the only meeting at the resort and our attendees will take over 95% of the guest rooms. This allows us to practice appropriate social distancing and to utilize all the meeting space – inside and outside. We are creating our own AUGS bubble.
The programming for this year’s meeting will once again highlight excellence in the latest research, updates in clinical care approaches and translational initiatives, as well as many social and networking opportunities to reconnect. The Program Committee is currently working on finalizing keynote speakers, reviewing abstracts, and confirming surgical tutorials. A preliminary program will be available in June on
www.pfdweek.org.
In addition to the great education and networking opportunities, this year’s location offers built in fun for you and your family. The resort offers golf, a water park, hiking and mountain biking activities. Plans are underway to hold morning yoga, a fun run, golf tournament and golfing activities. More information will be available this summer. In the meantime, visit the resort’s website to learn more about all this
resort has to offer.
The Board is actively advancing new initiatives to support AUGS, its members and the field of urogynecology. Most recently the Governance Committee, led by our President-elect, Dr. Beth Mueller, has been focused on revisiting AUGS Committee term limits and board diversification. The Board approved a transition to one-year committee terms that can be renewable each year for up to three years. This new policy was put in place to allow more flexibility for our members to volunteer and serve on committees. The Board also created a Social Media Committee and expanded the focus of the Quality Committee to include ACQUIRE and renamed the committee the Quality Improvement Committee. On June 1st, the AUGS Call for Volunteers will launch. I encourage all members who are interested in getting involved with AUGS to consider volunteering for one of our many committees.
The PFD Research Foundation, led by Drs. Christopher Tarnay (Chair) and Elizabeth Geller (Co-Chair) are actively working on implementing new programs that will expand the focus of the Foundation. The expanded focus includes: