Gearing Up for the 50th and More!
In this 50th year of the AAGL, we are moving full steam ahead on many exciting developments that will benefit our membership for generations to come.
We are excited for the kickoff of our International Surgeons webinar series as we continue to expand the digital arm of the AAGL. These webinars will occur monthly or bi-monthly throughout this year and will be ongoing for years to come. Each webinar will introduce an expert surgeon from around the world whose talents some of the AAGL membership may not have yet had the opportunity to observe. Each international surgeon will be targeting their regional audience but also provide content of value to the rest of AAGL international community. We are continuing to develop wider translation services to remove language barriers. These webinars will be available on our newest media service, AAGL TV. AAGL TV opens our webinars to a larger viewing audience and can be accessed through any streaming device or smart TV that has AppleTV, Roku, and Amazon FireTV. In May, watch for presentations showcasing several of our incredible Latin American surgeons, including Drs. J.D. Villegas, Humberto Dionisi and Audrey Tsunoda.
We will continue to engage with patient advocacy groups which began with an Endometriosis webinar titled: “Beyond Awareness: The Future of Endometriosis Care, A discussion on Access and Quality.” This webinar features a panel of prominent advocates including Endometriosis United Kingdom, Endometriosis Australia and Shannon Cohn, Co-Founder of Endo What? Shannon’s political activism and work with US Senators Elizabeth Warren, Orrin Hatch, and Mitt Romney has contributed significant funding for Endometriosis research. Initially we have patient advocates speak from the patients’ perspective to share what they would like to see regarding access to and quality of, Endometriosis care. The webinar goes on to discuss Endometriosis care in the United States and the difficulties in improving our current system. Our colleagues from Australia and the UK offer insight into their current systems of Endometriosis care along with their successes and lessons learned. The goal of these discussions is to devise a system in the US that is similar to what has already been successful in the UK and Australia for several years. This webinar is a first step towards the launch of a task force dedicated to planning a system of Endometriosis care that utilizes the strengths of the UK healthcare system and adapts it to the US Medical System. It is my hope that this task force will develop our own version of the Endometriosis Center in the United States and will serve as a model for the world. If you missed this important webinar it is available for AAGL members on the SurgeryU platform.
Fibroids is a significant issue of concern common to all within the AAGL membership. As such, the AAGL Board has decided to develop a new SIG Committee on Fibroids made up of members who are passionate about addressing this issue. We invite those who are interested in participating in the new Fibroid SIG Committee to submit their CV and letter of interest to Seth Spirrison, AAGL Committee Liaison, at sspirrison@aagl.org.
Exciting plans are underway for the AAGL’s 50th Global Congress in Austin, Texas, November 14-17, 2021. Thanks to the promising outcomes of the vaccination, we will be holding a hybrid meeting that will primarily be held in-person but also include online attendance options. Dr. Abrao and the Scientific Program Committee have developed a terrific program this year.
I look forward to celebrating our 50th Anniversary together at the AAGL’s 50th Global Congress on MIGS!
