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© 2021 The Authors. Société Internationale d'Urologie Journal, published by the Société Internationale d'Urologie, Canada.

137SIUJ.ORG SIUJ  •  Volume 2, Number 3  •  May 2021

EDITORIAL

Maybe Next Year?
Peter Black, Editor-in-Chief  

Soc Int Urol J.2021;2(3):137

DOI: 10.48083/AVBY2691

Remember just a few short months ago when we bid 
farewell to pandemic-ridden 2020 and ushered in 2021 
with eager anticipation of returning to normal social 
activities, regular travel, and participation in-person 
in urologic meetings? While the vaccine effort plods 
along, more efficiently in some countries and regions 
than others (and certainly without any sense of global 
equity), you could well wonder if we will not at the end 
of this year find ourselves eagerly awaiting the same 
events for 2022. Coronamüde (corona-fatigued) rings 
loud for us all. 

Which meeting will be the first big one in person? 
The American Urological Association (AUA) 2021 
Annual Meeting is planned for late September in 
Las Vegas. The leadership of the AUA and the meeting 
organizers will certainly not take any public health risk 
in pulling off this meeting (they will not be swayed by 
their government’s penchant for deviating from good 
public health policy throughout the pandemic), but 
travel restrictions and quarantine regulations have been 
looser in the United States than elsewhere, so it would 
be fitting if the AUA were the “homecoming” of sorts 
for the urologic community. COVID numbers continue 
to surge, however, with concern rising over even more 
contagious variants, and other major meetings planned 
during similar dates (eg, ESMO 2021) are sticking to the 
virtual format. Perhaps the AUA can pull off a successful 
meeting without cross-border travel, but many other 
organizations cannot, and it is not at all clear whether 
any of us will be traveling by September. Our own 
41st Congress of the SIU looms large, scheduled for 
November 10 to 14 in Dubai, giving us two more months 
in the race to overcome social distancing.

That is not to say that the advent of virtual meetings 
does not have some real advantages. Which academic 
urologist f lying around the world from speaking 
engagement to guideline panel to visiting professorship 
has not enjoyed a break from the hectic travel circuit? 
And instead of catering to those with the time and means 
to travel, many of our meetings have become more 
accessible to urologists and allied health care workers 
in all corners of the globe. This is particularly important  
to an organization like the SIU—but at the same time it 
is critically important that we interact in person with our 
colleagues from other regions to forge those relationships 
that bring us closer together and advance our field.  
The time and space for informal discussions is something 
that virtual meetings cannot provide. It is not just about 
meeting, but also about connecting.

The SIU introduced hybrid meetings with the launch 
of the SIU@U in 2015 before we even really talked about 
such a thing. Maybe this will be the way of the future—
the anticipation, engagement, and camaraderie of in-
person meetings for those who can attend, matched with 
the easy access and convenience of virtual meetings for 
those who cannot.

Of course, thoughts of travel restrictions and 
bemoaning the lack of in person meetings ring hollow 
during a true global health crisis. This is not to diminish 
the human cost of the pandemic, which is enormous 
and should always be in the foreground. Nonetheless, 
these meetings are an important part of any society 
and indeed any medical specialty, and we are anxiously 
awaiting their return—whether it is in the fall of 2021  
or maybe not until next year.

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