Inaugural Address: 100 Years of Innovation and Excellence

(At 2001 AUA meeting, Los Angles, CA. June 2001)

Dr. E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr.
President, American Urological Association

Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Urology
James J. Colt Professor of Urology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
New York, New York

I am looking forward to the honor of being the President of the American Urological Association during this special year. Thus, as an introductory official action I would like to formally wish the AUA a happy and healthy 100th anniversary. In fact, we are planning a celebration event in New York, the actual birthplace of the AUA, to be held Friday and Saturday, February 15-16, 2002, under the direction of Dr. Michael Droller, President of the New York Section, and me. We are working with Dr. Joseph Corriere on a wonderful scientific program reviewing what's new in the different domains of urology, and an elegant party will be held at the Waldorf Astoria.

Entering our centennial year, the American Urological Association is healthy and robust in its activities and financial status. We continue under the excellent leadership of our Executive Director, Mr. Jim Gallagher, and the excellent staff at the home office. The Office of Education under the direction of Dr. Joseph Corriere remains a prototype for medical specialty education across the country and certainly fits the title of this address. The AUA is characterized by constant change, and it is blessed with a superb Board of Directors and an energetic long-range strategic planning group. In fact, under the leadership of Dr. Martin Resnick, the AUA has reviewed and is taking an in-depth look at its strategic plan. Teams have been established to analyze all aspects of the AUA and these teams will report back to the Board of Directors during the next year.

Continuing the theme of innovation and excellence, the Board of Directors has recently approved the selection of The Frank Russell Company as the Managers of the AUA investment portfolio. The activity of Frank Russell will be monitored and directed by Mr. Mike Sheppard, Chief Operating Officer, with consultation from our new Treasurer, Dr. Gerald Sufrin, the Investment Committee and the Board of Directors. During the next year the Board of Directors will address the use of investment income. The AUA is firmly committed to member services that are "lost leaders" from a financial point of view. Thus, practice management, health policy, education and research are major missions of the AUA, and it may be appropriate for some of the investment income to be directed towards these services so highly valued by our membership. Our Health Policy Department is perhaps the best in the country among professional organizations. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Dr. Logan Holtgrewe who has nourished this office from infancy and adolescence into a mature unit with the strong support of Ms. Megan Cohen and her staff. We are fortunate that the baton has been passed into the capable hands of Dr. Bill Gee who has the energy, enthusiasm and knowledge to continue our excellence in this arena.

A rapidly expanding area within health policy is the AUA Office of Practice Management under the direction of Mr. Rick Rutherford. The recent Gallup poll asking how we should allocate our resources revealed that clinical education was the top priority (33%) but practice management was third at 17% just after our lobbying effort (22%). The Office of Practice Management is active and I would encourage all of your administrators to enroll. At a recent review 1,700 managers and physicians had enrolled and I am sure that the number is now even greater. You can contact Rick at Rrutherford@auanet.org for more information.

Adding further excitement to the 100th anniversary year of the AUA will be intensely planning the development of the acquired Hock Business Park property near the Baltimore-Washington Airport. Our Treasurer, Doctor Sufrin, has been in charge of the Space Needs Analysis Committee and the Board of Directors has seen feasibility drawings for the new AUA Headquarters on the new site. Site visits have been made of other medical association headquarters, and preliminary estimates of space needs have been made. At the moment we are considering an approximately 150,000 square foot building, which will provide room for expansion in the future and allow us to bring in other urological organizations if they so desire. Certainly, the American Foundation for Urologic Disease will remain with the AUA, and we have talked to a number of other groups who will likely share space and personnel to help make their organizations more efficient. We will be giving updates on the development of the new headquarters at visits to AUA Section meetings by either the President-Elect, Dr. Winston Mebust, or me.

However, despite the successes of the AUA during the last century and the exciting recent expansions of programs and activities of our staff, there are still major concerns for urology's future. I recently attended the Washington meeting of the American Association of Clinical Urologists at which the legislative needs were reviewed, and I will attend a portion of the AMA meeting in Chicago. Our major legislative priorities include a rational defense for appropriate reimbursement so as not to limit Urological services to our patients, appropriate practice expense payment and support for the "patient bill of rights." I believe that the major urological organizations must work in concert to maintain appropriate urological for our patients.

The title of this address stems from my 1987 Raman Guiteras Lecture, in which I reviewed the dramatic changes that have occurred in urology since Guiteras wrote his text in 1912. I know that all of us would agree that it has only been through basic science and translational research that we have maintained, our firm footing in the various domains of urology. It is mind boggling to simply think back as short a period as a decade ago and consider the changes that have occurred in our field. The future is filled with promise with technical advances, such as robotics and tissue engineering, as well as the dramatic advances in molecular biology leading to gene therapy and pharmacological breakthroughs through genomics and proteonics. Thus, the urological community as a whole and the AUA particularly must, as part of its mission, enhance and support advances in urological research.

Carrying the theme further, have been productive discussions during the past year between the AUA and the American Foundation for Urologic Disease leading to the recent signing of an affiliation agreement between the AUA and A.F.U.D. and approved by both respective boards. An Executive Council has been formed with 3 members of each group who will work together to plan the research strategies for the urological community. This Council will meet in the near future and it is expected that A think tank will be held sometime during the next year to gain input from our MD and Ph.D research and clinical communities as to future direction. Importantly, we will take direction from the Society for Basic Urologic Research, which has become a major contributor of research activities in urology.

Carrying the AUA interest in research one step further, we are excited with the Board of Directors' approval of the development of an office of research within the AUA. Moreover, following the excellent efforts of Dr. John McConnell, who directed the search, we have been able to recruit Dr. Monica Liebert as the Director of the Office of Research. Doctor Liebert is well known in the urological research community and is extremely qualified for the position. It will be my pleasure to work with her this year to develop the Office of Research in consultation with the Research Committee under the able leadership of Dr. Richard Williams.

I believe that this is an exciting and challenging time for urology and research. President Bush has expanded the NIH budget, urological diseases are becoming more visible in an aging population and, as I previously stated, the research and clinical advancements in urology are dramatic. Therefore, the coming year will include a reevaluation of our strategic mission. Basic science and translational research must be supported so we can ensure for our patients another 100 years of innovation and excellence in urology.