2025 AAGL Honorary Chair
Primum inter pares, first among equals. This Latin phrase best describes the Honorary Chair of this year’s meeting, the incredible Dr. Javier Magrina, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest pelvic surgeons of all time. He is my mentor, my friend, and the reason I am here today.
Dr. Magrina graduated from the University of Barcelona Medical School in Spain, and after moving to the United States, he completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Mayo Clinic Rochester. He then furthered his education with a fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He remained there as Director of Gynecologic Oncology and well as serving as Director of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. A few years later, Dr. Magrina moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, to Chair the Gynecology Department at the newly formed Mayo Clinic Arizona in 1987. In this role, he established a fellowship in Advanced Gynecologic Surgery, which paved the way to the AAGL Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery. He was awarded the Barbara Woodward Lips Professorship in 2001, one of the highest honors within the Mayo Clinic system.
Throughout his career, he has over 230 peer-reviewed papers, 42 book chapters, 131 surgical videos, co-authored two books, has given over 1300 presentations at national and international meetings, has performed 66 live surgical demonstrations, organized over 130 postgraduate courses, and has received nearly 400 visitors from 16 different countries in his operating room.
He has served as an AAGL Board Member, AAGL President, FMIGS Board Member, FMIGS President, Foundation Board Member, and at present is serving as Secretary-Treasurer for the AAGL Foundation. His dedication to shaping the next generation of MIG surgeons was recognized in 2019 with the Steege Mentorship Award. In addition, he has received recognition for excellence in robotic surgery through an award named in his honor by the Foundation of the AAGL.
I trained with Dr. Magrina from 2000 to 2003, and it was the most formative experience of my career. What I learned from him extends beyond surgical techniques; it taught me how to be a physician, a better person, a teacher, and a mentor. I recall telling Dr. Magrina that I wanted to be like him one day. He looked at me and responded, “No, I don’t want you to be like me; I want you to be better.” He emphasized that as my mentor, his goal is for me to surpass him. This should be a goal for every great teacher. While this is, of course, impossible to be better than Dr. Magrina, it truly illustrates his approach as a mentor.
One of the greatest aspects I admire about Dr. Magrina is his commitment to surgical innovation. He is a pioneer in minimally invasive oncologic and robotic surgery, having performed certain procedures years before others finally caught up to him. Frequently in the operating room, he would say, “If you do not try, you will never know if it can be done.”
This dedication to advancing surgical techniques solidifies his status as the first among equals. It makes him a clear choice for this year’s AAGL Global Congress, a congress dedicated to innovation and artificial intelligence.
