Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope you are all enjoying a happy and healthy new year. This is a good time of year to reflect on past challenges and successes and for goal setting for the year to come.

You may remember from recent AUGS communications that our volunteer terms are now linked to the calendar year, beginning in January, and ending in December. Given this, I’d like to thank each and every volunteer whose term has just ended. Your commitment, service, and hard work have made such a difference in every facet of the organization. I’d also like to thank immediate past Board members who concluded their service: Holly Richter, Maggie Mueller, and Ike Rahn. It has been a privilege working side-by-side; we have accomplished so much under your leadership. As you know, you, our members, guide this organization and our exciting subspecialty. So, I’m also very pleased to welcome the 77 volunteers who have just started their terms, including new Board members Tanaz Ferzandi, Matthew Barker, and Naz Siddiqui. These volunteers will help make up the 23 committees dedicated to advancing AUGS’ strategic plan and supporting the future growth of our organization.

During the past 15 months, the AUGS Board renewed the organization’s strategic plan, linking all AUGS programs and activities to updated goals and strategies. We will continue our work in the coming year with an emphasis in these four areas of focus:

• ensure a rich membership value proposition exists for all members,
• protect and strengthen the interests of urogynecology professionals and their patients,
• provide advanced research, education, training, and clinical best practices to urogynecology professionals, and
• preserve and align our resources with AUGS mission.

With these goals in mind, this past fall, AUGS supported the efforts of ABOG and ABU to request a change in the name of our subspecialty. These certifying bodies, with the support of AUGS and 8 other professional and patient organizations, sent a request to the ABMS to change our subspecialty’s name from Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery to Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery. The motivation for this request is to clarify and simplify our name, and to help patients and referring providers better understand us and more easily seek and find care for pelvic floor disorders. The ABMS Committee on Certification is currently inviting public comment on this request. You can comment here: https://www.abms.org/cocert-invites-comments/. Please take a few minutes to provide feedback. Even a short message of support would be helpful.

Lastly, I want to encourage everyone to renew your 2023 membership. AUGS is the home organization for all urogynecology professionals. It is with your support, engagement, and participation that AUGS is able to fulfill its mission and provide a platform for us to come together to exchange ideas, network and advance the field of urogynecology.

I’m excited and honored to lead AUGS over the coming year, and I would welcome your comments and questions related to all things AUGS!

Sincerely,

Catherine Bradley, MD

AUGS President

board@augs.org