John Seigne, MD NEAUA President

Dear colleagues,

Happy spring in New England! While nature has been busy changing over to a beautiful spring, the New England Section of the American Urological Association has been busy too, making preparations for the 91st Annual Meeting in Portland, Maine.

I would like to extend a sincere thanks to Drs. Linda Ng and Florian Schroeck who have been building an outstanding program for our community this coming September. They have secured Khurshid Ghani, MBChB, MS, FRCS, Professor of Urology at the University of Michigan as a guest speaker. Machele Donat, MD, FACS from Memorial Sloane Kettering will be our Leadbetter lecturer. We will also have two outstanding panels – one on conflict resolution and an international panel on NMIBC. Linda and Florian are working with Section members Doug Dahl, Michelle Kim and Elodi Dielubanza to organize practical hands-on courses, and are assigning presentations out of 145 submissions to fill out the abstract sessions. Linda and Florian have designed the 2022 program to be an outstanding education event. I hope to see many of our Section members in Maine! More

Gregory S. Adey, MD NEAUA Treasurer

I hope this letter finds you all well amidst what appears to be an ever changing world. While often the news in 2022 is discouraging (pandemic, inflation, war), I write to you with a note of optimism. The financial health of the New England Section remains strong, despite recent disruption of financial markets. The Board of Directors and the Finance Committee have led the section on a path of fiscal security. The NE-AUA investments continue under the management of Mediqus Asset Advisors. I meet quarterly with Matt Paprocki. Both Matt, and his predecessor, Joel Blau, have met in-person and by teleconference with the Board at our semi-annual Board meetings. The Board has aligned the investment policies of our two accounts. Our policy remains conservative enough to protect in down markets, but the policy allows growth during bull markets.

Our Section Education Fund finally eclipsed the $500,000 mark in 2019, allowing the NE-AUA to put this money to use. As many of you know, the inaugural event for the Education Fund was slated to be a resident training weekend at the Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation (CESI) at Hartford Hospital. The CESI event was scheduled for April of 2020, but this event was cancelled in the early throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. More

The New England Section was invited to publish an article in the April 2022 issue of AUA News summarizing DEI efforts in the region. Please see NEAUA’s article by Dr. Vernon Pais online on the AUA website.

2022 Annual Meeting abstract notifications will be delivered to inboxes soon! Registration and housing will be available in early summer 2022 at https://meeting.neaua.org.

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Brittany D. Berk, MD

The AUA Advocacy Summit was a unique experience that I am very fortunate to have been able to take part in this year. As a resident, much of our training is focused on learning surgical technique, guidelines, and pathways. However, the Advocacy Summit introduced me to another important aspect of the care we can provide urological patients- activism. In each of the bills selected by the AUA I was able to identify ways in which these legislations could impact the patients I see every day at Brigham and Women’s. Furthermore, the passion of the group was infectious. It lead to very exciting and thought provoking meetings with representatives from the state of Massachusetts. I was able to learn from my fellow attendees as well about their perspective on the impact of these bills for other practices in our state. This experience has certainly inspired me to continue participating in advocacy work for urological patients, and I look forward to attending this meeting again in the future.

Brittany D. Berk, M.D.
PGY3, Division of Urology
Brigham & Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School

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Isaac Kim, Jr.

I was fortunate enough to be selected by the New England AUA to attend the Annual Advocacy Summit and help deliver the AUA’s asks to Rhode Island representatives. Having spent the summer before medical school as a civic fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services, I was excited to return to Washington, D.C. and learn about the AUA’s involvement in advocacy.

On the first morning of the summit, I participated in an introductory session led by residents who were passionate about advocacy and had been involved in the summit for some time. Over the next few days, we would learn about the AUA’s key asks this year and deliver them to our congressional representatives, a task which seemed quite daunting. As a medical student, I knew next to nothing about many of these topics. In just a few short days, however, I learned an incredible amount about the topics, which ranged from protecting telehealth access to improving diversity in clinical trials, and became more comfortable with the idea of discussing them with my representatives. Throughout the conference, one of the key points we were taught in speaking with our representatives was that patient stories are significantly more powerful than statistics or rational arguments. The educational seminars were also excellent and engaging and taught by urologists who were experts in these topics.

In a general session entitled “The Craft of Urology Advocacy on the Hill: A Primer”, we were taught that legislative success comes from consistent advocacy over several years, and persistence pays off. For example, the AUA successfully advocated for a bill to raise awareness and provide data on urotrauma but only after several years and calling for Congress to reintroduce the bill every year during that time period.

On the last full day of the summit, I met with Dr. Elias Hyams, an attending at Brown and the NE AUA’s Rhode Island representative, to review our asks and what we would say to our representatives. Dr. Hyams kindly offered me my choice of the asks to introduce, and he helped formulate my words. While the pandemic prevented most offices from meeting in person at the Capitol, we could thankfully meet over Zoom. The congressional aides were very receptive to our asks, and we even spoke with Senator Jack Reed.

I also met many residents and attendings, many of whom had been involved in advocacy or civic engagement to some extent in the past. There were plentiful breaks, which provided opportunities to meet urologists across the country and hear about their unique backgrounds and interests in advocacy. Furthermore, all of the residents I met had the full support of their programs to attend the conference. Overall, it was inspiring to meet so many accomplished residents and attendings at the summit, as I didn’t previously realize the extent to which the AUA and urologists led the charge in advocacy.

As a medical student who still has a ways to go, I am very grateful for the opportunity to attend this summit and learn from experienced residents and attendings about the pivotal role that urologists play in advocating for our patients. I learned that access to urologic healthcare in the U.S. relies on the advocacy of urologists. My time at the summit confirmed that I had chosen the right specialty to apply into and augmented my desire to be a part of this community. Thank you to the NE AUA for this opportunity.

Isaac Kim, Jr.
Brown University
MD/PhD-4

The Section would like to recognize the following 2022 donors who have generously contributed to the Section Education Fund. For the smallest of all the Sections, New England has always been and continues to be one of the strongest!

Gregory Adey Liza Aguiar Jason Akerman Peter Albertsen Philip Ayvazian Richard Babayan Paula Bellin Krishna Bhatta Robert Blute Peter Bosco Ernest Bove Marc Calabrese Anthony Caldamone Madeline Cancian George Canellakis Jennifer Davila-Aponte Eugene Dixon Robert Edelstein Scott Fabozzi

Frederic Fernholz Stephen Gallo Francis Garofalo Evangelos Geraniotis Clifford Gluck Jeffrey Graham Martin Gross Robert Hartnett Derek Hausladen Matthew Hayn Joseph Heineman David Hesse Mark Hirschhorn Marc Hodroff Liam Hurley Adam Kibel Kevin Killeen Kenneth Kingsly Brian Kowal

Jerilyn Latini Michael Lee Lori Lerner Michael Malone Francis McGovern Edward Myer Linda Ng Aria Olumi Siam Oottamasathien Joshua Pagar Bhalchandra Parulkar Sagar Phatak Gerard Pregenzer Steven Previte Jeffrey Ranta Jose Reyes Craig Rinder Benjamin Ristau Ossama Sakr

Stephen Schiff Jared Schober Benjamin Scoll John Seigne Tim Siegrist Jonathan Starkman William Swanson Arthur Tarantino Simone Thavaseelan Joseph Wagner Max K. Willscher, M.D.   Memorial Fund for Urological Research Hsi Yang Wu Jennifer Yates Michael Zachareas Michael Zavaski

The New England Section Education Fund was created to ensure longevity of Section educational activities despite the future landscape of healthcare, politics, and industry. Make your donation today!

The Section Education Fund is part of the New England Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and its IRS EIN number is 04-2440813. All donations to the Section Education Fund are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Welcome to some of the newest members of the New England Section!

Hernán Altamar, MD

Dr. Hernán Altamar, MD

Dr. Hernán Altamar, MD, was born in Washington, DC, and graduated from high school in Montgomery County, Maryland. He received his military commission from the United States Naval Academy in 1993, graduating With Distinction (summa cum laude) with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. He service-selected Medical Corps and immediately entered the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, in Bethesda, Maryland. He received his medical degree and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society in 1997. He completed an internship in Basic Surgery and residency in Urology at Naval Medical Center San Diego, in San Diego, California. Following completion of residency in 2006, he served as the solo urologist and department head of Urology at US Naval Hospital Guam. From 2008 to 2010, he pursued additional urologic specialty training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, completing a fellowship in Endourology, Laparoscopy, and Robotic Surgery.

Dr. Altamar is board-certified in urology, with clinical interests in robotic and laparoscopic surgery of the kidney, prostate, bladder and ureter, urologic oncology/cancers, benign prostate disease, and urinary stone disease. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Urology and a Fellow of the Endourological Society. Dr. Altamar is a member of the American Urologic Association (AUA), the New England Section of the AUA, the Society of Government Service Urologists, the American Association of Clinical Urologists, and the Vanderbilt Urology Society. Dr. Altamar served proudly in the U.S. Navy for 31 years, retiring in the rank of Captain.

Prior to joining Manchester Urology Associates, Dr. Altamar was Chief of Urology and an attending surgeon at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. He was the White House Consultant for Urology and served as Specialty Leader for Urology to Chief, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He holds the academic rank of Associate Professor and has published in the fields of Endourology, and laparoscopic and robotic urological surgery.

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Sarah Lambert, MD

Sarah Lambert, MD

Sarah Lambert, MD graduated the University of Michigan with High Honors and then attended medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Her internship and residency were completed at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Lambert is fellowship trained in pediatric urology at Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania.

She has practiced at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for 2 year and the Children’s Hospital of New York for the past 5 years. She is trained in minimally invasive techniques including endoscopic stone management, laparoscopy and robotic assisted procedures. Dr. Lambert is board certified in adult and pediatric urology with expertise in hypospadias, hydronephrosis, vesicoureteral reflux, urinary tract infections and undescended testes.

• NEAUA 91st Annual Meeting: September 29 – October 1, 2022
• MAPU Fall Program: November 3, 2022
• NEAUA 92nd Annual Meeting: September 7-9, 2023
• 2022 AUA Advocacy Summit: February 27 – March 1, 2023