President's Update - June 2026
I’m pleased to share an update with Members following recent USANZ Board of Directors meetings.
USANZ Events
This last weekend USANZ hosted its 5th Functional Urology Symposium in conjunction with the 20th Annual Meeting of the Pan Pacific Continence Society in Sydney from June 12-14. The strong attendance from local and international delegates was a reflection of the effort undertaken by the convenors – Vincent Tse, Eva Fong and Eric Chung – to whom I am very thankful. The workshop on Minimally Invasive Treatments for BPH held Friday pm and chaired by Giovanni Losco was clearly of great value to the multiple international delegates from the Asia-Pacific region who attended, and represented an opportunity to showcase the adaptable nature of practice in this field by USANZ members.
Similarly, the USANZ & ANZUNS 2026 ASM in Melbourne was a highly successful event, and on behalf of the Board, I express sincere thanks to Renu Eapen, Convenor of the 2026 ASM, Devang Desai, Scientific Committee Chair, and USANZ Conference Manager Anna Tartakovskaia. I also want to acknowledge each of the local faculty members who contributed their time and expertise to deliver such an engaging program, and the entire USANZ staff whose work in the background enables a conference of this scale to run smoothly and successfully.
To support participation in urology by underrepresented groups, USANZ for the first time this year implemented an initiative to provide two complementary registrations to attend the USANZ 2026 ASM. The Indigenous Scholarship was awarded to Benjamin Crook, a Ugar man from the Torres Strait. The medical student Essay Competition Scholarship was awarded to Hussain Arshad.
International Conferences
The Society continues to be well represented by its members at major urological meetings around the world. I was not able to attend the EAU meeting in London due to flight cancellations, and so Lih-Ming Wong chaired the USANZ Joint Session as part of the ‘Urology Beyond Europe' series.
At the AUA Congress in Washington DC the BAUS-BJUI-USANZ Joint Session was greatly enhanced by outstanding presentations from the USANZ Speakers Sandra Elmer and Alison Blatt.
Other news of USANZ Members at recent conferences include:
- Marnique Basto was the nominated USANZ Speaker at the National Continence Health Conference (NCHC), held in May in Melbourne
- Helen O’Connell and Prem Rashid received prestigious awards at the RACS ASC in Perth on 30 April
Of note is that the SIU 2026 has moved the location of their Congress from Abu Dhabi to Florence in November. The USANZ Joint Session will be combined with BAUS and KUA with Manish Patel and Paul Manohar coordinating the session.
SIMG Expedited Pathway
Concerns were raised by the recent announcement that the SIMG expedited pathway would proceed for General Surgery and ENT. USANZ has been active in opposing this pathway for urologists and has worked closely with RACS in this endeavour. However, the Board is also exploring other avenues to complement the activities by RACS and the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC). Further information will be communicated to the Membership as it becomes available.
Medical Cost Finder Website
During the last month the federal government has given preliminary notification to USANZ and equivalent organisations about their intention to revisit this initiative, with initial meetings to be held in the next 2 weeks. Members will be aware that a version of this already operates on a voluntary basis, but with very poor uptake by practitioners. A working group led by Ashani Couchman has been created and preliminary work undertaken so that we can have a robust response to whatever is put forward. At this stage we have not been provided with a firm proposal despite the timeline for final determination being within the 3rd quarter of this year.
There is clearly the potential for misleading data to be posted that could disadvantage some clinicians, especially those with practices that focus on a specific sub-interest area of urology, and we need to ensure the government understands the complexity of this matter and its potential for negative impact on service provision, with the consequent downstream implications of such.
Notably I have had contact about this issue by some of the small number of urologists who are not financial members of USANZ. My view remains that they need to arrange their own professional and legal representation, that we won’t be communicating back to them on any progress we make on their specific issues, and indeed I am happy to concede on their individual problems in the interests of the broader membership.
Media
USANZ continues to grow our presence in the media with our monthly media releases highlighting topical health promotion messaging for the public.
Most recently we issued media releases for Testicular Cancer Awareness Week in April and Bladder Cancer Awareness Week in May. I’d like to thank Weranja Ranasinghe (Genitourinary Oncology SAG Leader) for his expert contributions to these releases.
USANZ will continue to report on media coverage in weekly editions of UroNews.
Board and Committee Changes
With the conclusion of Lydia Johns Putra and Mark Frydenberg’s tenure on the USANZ Board of Directors, I want to express my sincere thanks for the support and contributions they have provided. I am pleased to welcome Rick Catterwell as the Board of Urology Chair and Hin-Wai Yap as the RACS Urology Specialty Elected Representative.
Following recent nominations, Giovanni Losco has been appointed Vice President of the Aotearoa New Zealand Society of Urology (ANZSU). Jared White will be stepping into the Secretary/Treasurer position.
Policy Updates
The Board of Directors has recently approved several policy updates, plans and applications.
The ARPI Guide, first produced in 2024, has been updated for 2026 and mailed to all relevant Australian Members. The ARPI policy statement has been developed for the use of urologists when considering prescribing ARPIs. The Society has also developed resources to support Members in the process of prescribing ARPIs which can be accessed from the USANZ website. Recently reported trial data is likely to further validate the importance of this class of agents in prostate cancer management, which will end up being managed more by other craft groups if urologists are not actively participating in standard of care management at every disease stage.
The Female Urology SAG has drafted a position statement on Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) which replaces the 2015 position statement on the use of Mid-Urethral Slings in the Surgical Management of Female SUI. Thank you to Eva Fong, FUSAG Leader for coordinating, and also to Sandra Elmer, Vincent Tse, Helen O’Connell and other members who contributed to this statement.
Strategic Plan
The Society’s Strategic Plan for 2026-2028 is available for review. The Strategic Plan is informed by USANZ’s vision to optimise urological health in our communities, as well as the USANZ values of respect, collaboration, integrity, compassion, service, and accountability. The Strategic Plan, which is accessible on the USANZ website, comprises five pillars: urological standards; urological science; advocacy; strong governance; and capacity building.
ACNC Application
The USANZ 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held during the ASM in Melbourne. At this meeting, the Membership passed the constitutional changes needed for USANZ to progress its application for charitable status. A considerable amount of work has since been done to prepare the Society’s application to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission.
Partner Update
The Australian Urological Foundation (AUF) and USANZ have agreed for the AUF to provide financial support for educational activities including the International Exchange Program for Trainees which was previously supported by Ipsen.
The USANZ and BJUI have had an agreement for several years. Included in this agreement is the recognition of BJUI as the Society journal, sponsored speaker to attend the ASM, and access for USANZ Members to use BJUI Knowledge. We are pleased to announce that a new agreement has been signed and USANZ Members will continue to benefit from access to BJUI resources.
SET Induction Course 2026
USANZ welcomed 23 Trainees to the SET Program in Urology at the Induction Course in February. The session, held at the Pullman Melbourne in Albert Park, Victoria, was well received with positive feedback from Trainees.
Thank you to Lydia Johns Putra and Rick Catterwell for facilitating this program, and USANZ staff members Deborah Klein and Jenny Hislop for their hard work and commitment to deliver such a successful event.
Forward Looking EOIs and Appointments
After recent calls for Expressions of Interest from Members, Richard Cetti was the successful applicant for the USANZ speaker role at the South African Urological Association 35th Biennial Congress to be held at Stellenbosch, outside Cape Town from 21-25 October.
Jeremy Grummet will be advocating for urologists to take the lead in focal therapy, when he speaks at the Brazilian Society of Urology Meeting from 3-6 September.
Currently an EOI is open for members who would like to present at the forthcoming Korean Urological Association conference in Seoul this coming October.
In addition, the Society has also appointed Gideon Blecher as the USANZ representative to the MSAC Gender Affirmation Stakeholder Consultation, with Darren Katz appointed as the USANZ Representative for the Fertility Support Review by the NSW Legislative Council. My sincere thanks and congratulations go to both in regards to these appointments – if USANZ does not have a voice in such processes the practice of our members will be at the discretion of others who have their own agendas.
Future Events
Next year’s ASM in Brisbane is well under development thanks to the hard work and capability of Stuart Philip as convenor, and Lih-Ming Wong as scientific convenor. I believe this will be an excellent conference with a strong focus on emerging technologies including AI. A call for abstracts is now open and the confirmed list of outstanding international faculty will be published soon.
Similarly, Expressions of Interest are open for any member with interest in acting as the Convenor or Scientific Convenor of the 2028 ASM which is to be held in Adelaide. I have found this role to be a truly worthwhile endeavour and a means by which to gain a greater understanding of industry, and to engage with colleagues from multiple countries which brings forth its own future opportunities. An experienced team is in place to provide enormous support, and anyone with interest should feel free to discuss this with myself or Michael Nugara.
Prof Damien Bolton
President, USANZ