AAGL22 Global Congress – That’s A Wrap!

The 2022 AAGL Global Congress was a tremendous success! It was wonderful to welcome back so many of our colleagues from all around the world. This year, we had a truly global representation of 1786 attendees from 57 different countries. I’d like to thank the Scientific Program Committee and the 290 faculty for their fabulous contributions to the Congress.

When developing the 2022 Scientific Program, we requested topic recommendations from our membership. If you missed any of these new courses, be sure to look them up! They consisted of all new content that was submitted by our membership and brought fresh perspectives into the program. One of these member recommended courses was Complex Obstetric Surgery for the MIGS Surgeon, OBS-601, presented by Ally Murji, Caitlin A. Jago, Saketh Guntupalli, and Sony Singh. In this course, attendees learned how to deal with challenging pregnancy-related pathology. Another member submitted course that was well received was INNO-611, the Innovations Course by Peter L. Rosenblatt. Dr. Rosenblatt discussed ways for physicians to document, protect and move their innovative ideas forward. A third notable course that was submitted by AAGL members was Optimizing Surgical Management in Today’s Pediatric Environment, PAGS-618. In this course, Drs. Nichole A Tyson, Krista Childress and Lissa X. Yu shared a comprehensive review of surgical management of common diagnoses that present in the pediatric and adolescent gynecology patient population. The popular Surgical Coaching Course, SURG-621, taught by Caprice C. Greenberg, Cara R. King, and Kristine A. Lombardozzi, provided attendees with the skillset necessary to be a great surgical coach, along with certification as a surgical coach. We also had a great course submitted by our Endometriosis SIG on Building Excellence in Patient Centered Endometriosis Management (ENDO-604). This course presented a structured approach to the diagnosis and surgical treatment for stage III-IV and deeply infiltrative endometriosis and was led by experienced endometriosis surgeons, Cindy M. Mosbrucker, Jeffrey T. Arrington, Andrea Vidali, and Maria Victoria Vargas. These courses were so well received by the audience that we will again encourage our members to submit content recommendations for the 2023 Scientific Program.

I’d also like to highlight some of our standout AAGL MED Talks. In General Session II, Dr. Fariba Mohtashami’s MED Talk on Shattering the Glass Ceiling for Surgeons provided thought provoking, evidence-based statistics that well supported her topic. I also appreciated how well Cheryl B. Iglesia got to the root of the problem in her MED Talk on Safely Introducing New Technologies in Gynecologic Surgery. I found the MED Talks by Dr. Carugno on Surgical Catastrophes and Angela Chaudhari’s Hopes, Dreams & Surgery…Discovering Your Best Self to be highly relatable, excellent presentations. Finally, Dr. Ajay Rane gave a moving talk on the burden of fistulas and sexual violence.

We also saw many fantastic surgical presentations. Mario Malzoni and Alessandra di Giovanni pushed us to the next level in imaging and properly staging treatment of endometriosis. Their paper, in collaboration with Mauricio Abrao, has now been published in JMIG with open access. We were also treated to great surgery presentations by Fernando Heredia on Sentinel Node Mapping for Endometrial Cancer and Marcelo Vieira on Laparoscopic Paraaortic Dissection in Oncology. All of our live and pre-corded surgeries, along with their follow-up discussions, are available to watch again on demand.

I hope you were able to spend some time in the Exhibit Hall this year. It was packed with highly valuable industry representation showcasing the newest developments in technology. It was so popular that the product theaters had standing room only! A new addition to the Exhibit Hall this year was the first annual Koh World Suturing Competition. Attendees enjoyed cheering on their colleagues and celebrating when Jay Hudgens took home the title.

Our On-Demand content is now available if you missed a training session or would like to listen again. To access course recordings, look for the video icon posted next to each course description in the Scientific Program. Up to 21.75 CME credits are available and can be claimed by completing a course evaluation. Global Congress content will remain online until January 31, 2023.

It was an honor to chair this year’s Global Congress. I wish to thank the AAGL staff, whose countless hours of planning helped to make this meeting successful. I also thank each of you for attending and actively engaging in this experience. I am very proud of what we all accomplished together. I look forward to seeing you all in Nashville next year!