Message from the President

(Posted March 24, 2021)

As the President of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, I am excited to invite you to the 47^th Annual Scientific Meeting in Palm Springs, California from June 27 – 30.  This first of its kind, hybrid meeting is based at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in the heart of the Coachella Valley.  For those of us able to attend in person, it will likely the first inter-state travel we have done since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  What a joy to finally be in the presence of our SGS friends and colleagues.  For our members and guests who will be attending virtually, we hope that this year’s meeting will be just as fantastic as last year’s, and we look forward to seeing you in-person at our 2022 meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Megan Schimpf and the Scientific Program Committee have put together an outstanding program, with exceptional keynote speakers, diverse panel discussions, and a combination of podium presentations and videos that will bring the latest science in gynecologic surgery to you. While we hope that the vast majority of our attendees will be vaccinated, there is no doubt that the in-person component of this meeting will be unlike any previous meeting.  The health and safety of our members and guests is paramount.  Nonetheless, we hope that the collegial social events for which SGS is well known – modified as needed for these times - will make us all feel a little bit “normal” again.   In this era of social distancing, I know we can all embrace the theme of this year’s meeting, “Working Together: How Collaboration Enables Us to Better Help Our Patients.”

Through a combination of live and virtual presentations we are offering three timely postgraduate courses. On Sunday morning, June 27^th Dr. Cara King will be leading “Fibroid Management: Broaden Your Armamentarium for Uterine Preservation,” and Drs. Annetta Madsen and Blair Washington will chair a course on “Anti-Racism: Dismantling Racism in Your Personal and Professional Spheres.”  On the evening of Tuesday, June 29^th Dr. Cecile Ferrando will be directing a virtual course on “Multidisciplinary Care Within Your Gynecologic Surgical Practice: How to Effectively (and easily) Incorporate Other Specialties.”  In addition to these PG courses, the Social Media Committee, chaired by Dr. Amy Park, will be presenting a live workshop on Sunday afternoon entitled, “Harnessing the Power of Social Media in Gynecological Medicine,” and Sunday evening the Women’s Council welcomes Lori Ryerkerk, CEO of Celanese Corporation, to speak about “Lessons in Leadership.”

It’s been 15 months in the making, so we are excited to finally bring to you the inaugural Mark D. Walters Lectureship, and its namesake, Dr. Walters, Professor of Ob-Gyn and Reproductive Biology at the Cleveland Clinic will be giving a lecture entitled, “Insights on Surgical Education: How Can I Help You Get Better.” Dr. Christine Heisler will speak to us about gender bias in her lecture entitled “Women in GYN Surgery.”  To round things off, this year’s TeLinde Lecture, “Cultivating Resilience: The Power in Connection & Collaboration” given by Janet Dombrowski, will enlighten us on how to build highly functioning teams, and the importance of aligning strategy, structure, and culture for optimal performance.

Our program chair, Dr. Schimpf, will moderate a panel on, “Perspectives on Race in GYN Surgery” which will feature various perspectives from Drs. Karolynn Echols, Erica Marsh, Gerard Taylor, and Olivia Trowers. Our second panel discussion will focus on the data behind “Novel GYN Office Procedures,” and the ways in which you can incorporate these new procedures in your practice.  The panel will include Drs. Maria Canter, Cecile Ferrando, Abbas Shobeiri, and Eric Sokol.

Our social events are going to be hot (both literally and figuratively)!  They include two evening receptions and the Tuesday afternoon social activities, where participants can choose between the annual golf scramble tournament or mountain biking in the desert badlands of Palm Springs. 

While we try to safely navigate through these challenging times, I hope that this hybrid meeting will be both educational and fun for all who attend.  The ability to socially connect while advancing our knowledge of gynecologic surgery is what has always made SGS so special. This year may be different, but hopefully we will all get a little taste of that old flavor.

Sincerely,

Miles Murphy, MD
SGS President

Speakers

Marlene Corton, MD, M.Sc  Professor UT Southwestern Medical Center

Paul A. Moran, FRCOG, MFFP, Consultant Urogynecologist Worcestershire Acute Hospitals, NHS Trust

 2020 Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting Schedule

View SGS 2020 Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting (July 9-12) Final Program

Joint Statement on Re-introduction of Hospital and Office-based Procedures in the COVID-19 Climate for the Practicing Gynecologist

View the new joint statement HERE

A guide for urogynecologic patient care utilizing telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: review of existing evidence

Thanks to the hard work from the SGS' Systematic Review Group (SRG) and the Collaborative Research in Pelvic Surgery Consortium (CoRPS) the above titled manuscript is now published in the International Urogynecology Journal. Click HERE to read the manuscript.

Female Sexual Health: Barriers to Optimal Outcomes and a Roadmap for Improved Patient–Clinician Communications

The Alliance for Advancing Women’s Health (AAWH) collaborated on a consensus paper detailing the barriers to optimal women’s sexual health and a path toward improving clinical interaction. The paper, “Female Sexual Health: Barriers to Optimal Outcomes and a Roadmap for Improved Patient-Clinician Communications,” was recently published in the Journal of Women’s Health... Read More