Fall 2014 Newsletter

The honor for me to assume the Presidency of the Mid-Atlantic Section has provided an enjoyable year of hard work with our distinguished Board members, with numerous tasks completed for the betterment of the Membership.

Our upcoming Annual Meeting in Baltimore has been the prime focus and I congratulate Dr. Jay Raman for his organization of what will be an outstanding program. The 2014 event contains our traditional abstract sessions, point-counterpoint discussions, and our third consecutive year of the enjoyable resident/young urologist Jeopardy! This year’s program also features a video/case panel session on Friday and a new extender program on the Saturday of the meeting. Our keynote addresses will be from Dr. Michael Droller at Mount Sinai Medical Center – New York, who will deliver the Paul Schellhammer Lecture in Urologic Oncology, and Dr. Margaret Pearle from the University of Texas Southwestern who will give the Hugh Hampton Young Lecture. Other highlights are the traditional Howard Pollack X-Ray Conference which, as always, will be superbly moderated by our Section’s own Bob Older and enticing symposia which we are grateful to our industry supporters for. Please take time to view the full program at https://urologymanagement.org/maaua/meeting/abstracts/2014-Program.cfm before you arrive at the meeting.

With the Hilton Baltimore location being only a line drive away from Camden Yards, America’s favorite pastime has been the planned social theme of the meeting from the start. Be sure to join us at the “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” event just prior to the Orioles vs. Red Sox game on Friday, which will feature some surprises with our exhibitors, and our traditional reception and banquet on Saturday. All of our baseball-fan members should take advantage of getting their game tickets through the meeting registration page of the website at https://urologymanagement.org/maaua/meeting/registration.cfm.

Other items on the Board’s agenda this year have included an evaluation and move of our Section’s investments to an even more promising portfolio and I’d like to thank our Treasurer, Dr. Michael Fabrizio, for his hard work on that front. In addition we hosted our first annual Resident’s Day this past March and I congratulate Drs. John Lynch and Kurt McCammon on their successful program! Our Leadership Program selections for the next cycle will be Dr. Thomas Guzzo and Aseem Shukla and we look forward to hearing about their participation in this important program for those who will have lead roles in the Section’s future.

Thank you again for the opportunity to serve as President and I look forward to seeing everyone in Baltimore.

Stanley Zaslau, MD

Beyond education is advocacy and our Sectional representation at the AUA/AACU Urology Joint advocacy conference in Washington, DC each year continues to be very strong. This year at the JAC Dr. Mark Edney, Section Chair and Representative for Health Policy, was accompanied by two of our younger urologists who were sponsored by the Section; Dr. Jessica DeLong, a fellow at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Dr. Timothy Ito, a fellow at Fox Chase Cancer Center. The Board of Directors hopes to continue the participation of two residents or fellows in 2015.Greetings to all of our MA-AUA members! I hope everyone has had an enjoyable summer and I look forward to seeing you at our next Annual Meeting in Baltimore.

As your Secretary, I have the distinction of being very involved with the Section’s administrative matters as well as our liaison to the AUA Section Secretaries Committee. The MA-AUA continues to have a strong Membership and works hard to provide numerous benefits to them; including a robust Annual Meeting and now, as of March of 2014, a special educational session for Residents. The Section has also enhanced its attention toward our Advanced Practice Nurse, Physician Assistant, and Nursing colleagues and our Annual Meeting program this year has a special section for our extender peers. Our thanks goes out to the 2014 Program Committee’s Physician Assistant Courtney Anderson, of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Dr. Jay Raman, Program Chair, and the rest of the Committee for their hard work in delivering this session to the Baltimore meeting.

As I reported in our last issue of the Newsletter, the Mid-Atlantic Section as an organization needs to stay current in its operations. Along with other information sent in preparation for the upcoming Annual Member Business Meeting on September 20th, the Membership has now received a series of By-Law amendments for ratification during that session. These changes will align our governance with actual day-to-day activity, specifically regarding membership and the Annual Meeting. In addition to these amendments the next leadership slate was provided and I would like to thank Dr. Jay Miller and this year’s nominating committee for their extensive work in this process. In that same communication the minutes to the last business meeting were also provided for your review.

Beyond the 2014 Annual Meeting in Baltimore please also save the date for our next Joint Meeting with the New England Section in Paradise Island, Bahamas on October 21-24, 2015 at the Atlantis Hotel.

Thank you again for the privilege to be your Mid-Atlantic Section Secretary.

Edouard J. Trabulsi, MD

Total assets for the MAEF 501(c)3 as of June 30th were \$238,020 and consisted of funds in the operating account, including those dedicated to the Schellhammer and IVUMed Scholar funds. Total to date receipts were \$161,345 and total expenses as of June were \$104,032 which resulted in an operating surplus of \$57,313 for the 501(c)3 as of the Section’s mid-year point.I am happy to report that 2014 has been going very well financially for the MA-AUA on the fronts of both corporations; the 501(c)6 or the Mid-Atlantic Section of the AUA (MA-AUA), and the 501(c)3 titled the MA-AUA Education Fund (MAEF).

Total assets for the MA-AUA as of June 30, 2014, the Section’s mid-year point were \$1,158.714 and consisted of \$172,078 in the checking account and \$986,636 in the investments portfolio; changes being made with respect to the investments that have been approved by the MA-AUA leadership are noted later in this report. Total receipts as of June were \$74,328 and total expenses to date were \$4,495 which, after consideration of a \$38,309 gain in the investments, resulted in an operating surplus of \$108,142 for the 501(c)6 as of the middle part of the year.

This year we conducted an analysis of the Section’s investments and various options for new mediums for growth. After review of these options the MA-AUA leadership agreed with a recommendation to move its investments into a new portfolio with Vanguard in tandem with the AUA and some of the other Sections. I will provide more details of this initiative during my report in Baltimore during the Annual Member Business Meeting.

Our regular dues notices promote contributions to support the Schellhammer funds with the hope to endow this lectureship in perpetuity. I encourage all of our members to make contributions toward this important initiative for the Section, as well as that for our International Volunteers in Urology (IVUMed) traveling scholars, via your dues payments.

Thank you all again and I look forward to seeing you at the Hilton Baltimore during the 2014 Annual Meeting.

Michael D. Fabrizio, M.D

The AUA Board of Directors Executive Summary from Dr. Craig Peters, the Section’s new Representative to the AUA BOD, outlines the AUA’s activities and initiatives as of May 2014. These include Financial, Office of Education, Science & Quality, Urology Care Foundation, “Urology Practice” (New Publication), Research, Membership, and Legislative updates.