Our Legacy Leads Us Into Our Future
I would like to formally invite you to the 47th AAGL Global Congress on Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, being held November 11-15, 2018. We’re back in the amazing city of Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Hotel and Convention Center, a venue that continues to grow in its offerings of exceptional dining options, high quality entertainment, and now even golf! If you’ve never been to an AAGL Congress in Las Vegas, now’s the time to come.
As the title above alludes, the theme of our meeting this year is Honoring Our Legacy as We Unite to Elevate Minimally Invasive Gynecology. Never has there been a more important time to come together as a society and celebrate our collegial membership of legendary leaders, talented teachers, and exceptional learners, all of whom are dedicated to the deserving recipients of our commitment to lifelong learning – our patients.
This year’s Congress is sure to be one of the most innovative and engaging meetings in AAGL’s history. The diverse and talented group of AAGL members that make up this year’s Scientific Program Committee has worked hard with me to develop a program that focuses on honoring our founding members and the inclusion of many participants, paying particular attention to gender and cultural diversity, scientific and intellectual contributions, and surgical and academic prowess.
The 28 Postgraduate (PG) Courses include many exciting and innovative programs that are new to AAGL. Among these is the Gladiator Rule suturing course; a unique program that emphasizes mastery of the “perfect stitch”, and could have you becoming an ambidextrous suturer. Another newcomer to our program is the International School of Surgical Anatomy (ISSA) from Verona, Italy, with both a didactic course and a cadaveric lab focused on performing safe gynecologic surgery. Additional PG courses include a timely and comprehensive course on the current state of transgender care and the important role of the gynecologic surgeon in caring for transgender patients, and the debut of a recreational, instructive and highly interactive “course on a course”, where we’ll learn 18 Pearls of Surgical Excellence while we play 18 holes of golf at the prestigious Las Vegas Country Club. Bring your A-game to this course…it’s sure to get competitive!
This year marks a milestone in the surgical treatment of gynecologic conditions. A true highlight of this year’s Congress will be our General Session I – 120 Years of of Radical Hysterectomy: Origin, Evolution, and Influence. We will honor this milestone with simultaneous live interactive cadaveric dissections showcasing laparoscopic, robotic, and vaginal approaches to radical hysterectomy, presented by Marcello Ceccaroni and our faculty of brilliant surgeon collaborators. Other General Sessions will continue to emphasize the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship that we’ve explored over the past couple of years, as well as the artistic skill of surgery and the challenges of surgical efficiency. Our full Congress days will feature 6 Surgical Tutorial sessions, with one highlighting neovagina creation; 6 Panel sessions, with one addressing physician burnout and another focused on physician empowerment; and we’ll close our meeting with the technological marvel of broadcasting live surgeries to our auditorium from operating rooms across the globe.
Further honoring our legacy will be a fun evening featuring the preferred pasttime of many doctors all over the world, at one of MGM Grand’s newest attractions: Topgolf! This event will be a fundraiser for the Foundation of the AAGL. You won’t want to miss it.
Join us in Las Vegas this November for what will be an inspiring, memorable, and highly educational experience!
