Chapple assumes Secretary General post

Barely two hours after the second day of the Congress opened with the EAU General Assembly, the association welcomed a new Secretary General and a new Executive Member responsible for Science.

Professors Chris Chapple (GB) and Francesco Montorsi (IT) succeeded Profs. Per-Anders Abrahamsson (SE) and Walter Artibani (IT), respectively. Chapple had been Secretary General-Elect for the past year and will formally assume the role as Secretary General after the congress, while Montorsi led as Editor-in-Chief of European Urology.

Both Abrahamsson and Artibani are proud of the achievements of the association and its affiliated offices during their tenure. Abrahamsson: “When I took this position in 2007, it was my ambition to see the association better off when I leave. Looking at all of our achievements set out during this General Assembly, we can conclude that this is the case.”

Abrahamsson also stressed the increasing global reach of the EAU while at the same time emphasizing that the EAU’s core goals and strategy will stay focused within European borders. He and the other executives, in their annual reports, often refer to the expanding influence of the EAU which is seen by many regional and national urology associations as a crucial link to other professional medical associations.

Artibani also laid out some milestones from his term as Executive Member for Science. He mentioned the establishment of the Search and Nomination Committee to make succession a transparent process; the establishment of Section Bylaws; having the previously independent ERUS join the EAU as a Section; and establishing a committee and regulations for live surgery as among the notable achievements.

New developments in Communications

Treasurer and Executive Member (Communications) Prof .Manfred Wirth (DE) gave an update on several new developments in the EAU’s communications strategy. European Urology will be launching during the congress the EU FOCUS, a new sister publication of European Urology. Wirth also reported on the EAU’s web presence which has been boosted with the recent launch of the new Uroweb and UROsource platforms.

Uroweb.org is the EAU’s new home portal, featuring news, information on upcoming meetings, and offering a personalised experience for users through MyEAU. UROsource.com, the new platform for the EAU’s scientific content offers the visitor access to abstracts, webcasts and presentations from every major Section Meeting or Congress of the past five years. Members have free access to content like the EAU Guidelines, or their previous attendance at meetings. Subscriptions for complete access are available at different price levels. This marks the first time the EAU is offering a comprehensive online platform that delivers content from multiple meetings.

Other areas that would be receiving a larger share of the EAU’s budget were the EAU Guidelines, which is moving toward an evidence-based approach under the leadership of Prof. James N’Dow (GB), and the EAU Patient Information project, which published several new topics in the past year.