The world is becoming more global and so is IUGA! The International Advisory Board (IAB) of IUGA ensures that regional and local needs and perspectives are reflected in the strategic direction, policies, and projects of the association.

The IAB meets with and provides counsel to the Board of Directors and is responsible for identifying opportunities for scientific, educational and other supportive activities in their respective regions. IAB members are elected by a majority vote of the regular voting members in the region they represent.

We recognize that Asia represents nearly half of the world’s population and that it is extremely challenging for one IAB member to properly represent the needs of the medical professionals and their patients across such a distance and so many countries and cultures.

With this in mind, the IUGA membership has approved a bylaw amendment expanding the IAB Board by creating four distinct IAB positions for Asia. Our goal is to better allow us to serve our members in these regions, and in turn, allow them to better serve their patients. For more details on the locations that the new IAB members represent within the Asian region, please see the list of countries below.

Call for Nominations

This is your chance! We are now looking for motivated IUGA members to represent from each of these regions on the International Advisory Board (IAB).

IUGA is accepting nominations for the elected positions listed below. Nominations must be received by Friday, August 24 at 11:59 PM EDT. Voting will take place between Saturday, September 15 and Monday, October 15, 2018. Please note that only members from the respective regions can be nominated and/or vote.

International Advisory Board (IAB)

• Central and Eastern Asia - 3-year term, non-renewable
• Southern Asia - 3-year term, non-renewable
• Southeastern Asia - 3-year term, non-renewable
• Western Asia - 3-year term, non-renewable

*Terms for the above positions will begin January 1, 2019.

The Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is chaired by the immediate past president, and includes the president, two elected members, and one member appointed by the president. The current members of the Nominating Committee are:

• Bob Freeman, Chair (Immediate Past President)
• Lynsey Hayward (President)
• Stavros Athanasiou (Member-at-Large)
• Suvit Baunyavejchevin (Member-at-Large)
• Michael Moen (Appointed)

Save the Date: Chennai, India Regional Symposium
Location: The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University
Dates: September 07 -09, 2018
Local Host: Urogynecology & Reconstructive, Pelvic, Surgery, Society of India (URPSSI)

Register at: http://www.urpssi.org/events/register

Click here for more information

Click here for program details

Save the Date: Henan, China Regional Symposium
Location: The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University
Dates: August 4-5, 2018
Local Host: Chinese Medical Association (CMA)

Registration Coming Soon!

Click here for more information including program details.

IUGA has launched its first online CME module, Chronic Genito-pelvic Pain and Overactive Pelvic Floor, on IUGA Academy. Members may earn 2.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM after completing all 5 modules and the evaluation. This free course is suitable for gynecologists, urogynecologists, physicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, midwives, gastroenterologists, colo-proctoloists, sex therapists and sexologists or other allied health professionals interested in overactive pelvic floor conditions (and trainees in these disciplines).

The Annual Business Meeting of IUGA membership will be held on Friday, June 29, from 04:30 p.m. - 06:00 p.m. at the Austria Center Vienna, Vienna, Austria. All IUGA members are encouraged to attend.

Minutes from the 2017 Annual Business Meeting may be found here (members only).

On April 17, 2018, the National Health Service (NHS) published a retrospective review of surgery for urogynecological prolapse and stress urinary incontinence using tape or mesh. Read the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gyncacologists (RCOG) statement in response to the review here.

IUGA is now accepting nominations for the elected positions listed below.*
Nominations must be received by Friday, June 22, 2018.

Board of Directors

• Vice President - 2-year term, then ascends to President
• Treasurer - 2-year term, renewable once

International Advisory Board (IAB)

• Asia Representative - 3-year term, non-renewable

Committee Chairs

• Scientific Committee Chair - 2-year term, non-renewable
• Terminology & Standardization Committee Chair - 2-year term, renewable once 

Committee Members

• Nominating Committee Member-at-Large (2 positions) - 2-year term, non-renewable

*Terms for the above positions will begin January 1, 2019.

Nomination Process

As specified in the by-laws, the Nominating Committee will receive all nominations, will review them and will present the proposed nominees at the IUGA Annual Business meeting at 4:30pm on Friday, June 29, 2018 in Vienna, Austria. Nominations may be taken from the floor during the Annual Business Meeting. The Nominating Committee may add additional nominees if it is considered by the Committee to be in the best interest of the association.

Nominations may be submitted via email to the IUGA Executive Office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. until midnight on Friday, June 22, 2018. Nominations may be submitted by any IUGA member in good standing, including the nominee him or herself. A member may be a candidate for only one position. Once the nominations are confirmed, nominees will be asked to submit a short position statement and a photo to be posted online prior to and during the voting period.

Those making nominations are asked to reflect on the qualifications related to the position for which they are nominating a candidate. Qualifications can be reviewed in the pdf file below.

The Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is chaired by the immediate past president, and includes the president, two elected members, and one member appointed by the president. The current members of the Nominating Committee are:

• Bob Freeman, Chair (Immediate Past President)
• Lynsey Hayward (President)
• Stavros Athanasiou (Member-at-Large)
• Suvit Baunyavejchevin (Member-at-Large)
• Michael Moen (Appointed)

The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) is establishing a Pelvic Floor Consortium (PFC) for the purpose of providing a collaborative forum of representatives of disciplines involved in the management of people with diseases of the pelvic floor. People with an interest in the management of diseases of the pelvic floor are welcome and invited to attend the Pelvic Floor Consortium’s inaugural meeting, Sunday, May 20, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee, during the ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting.

Pelvic Floor Consortium Inaugural Meeting
Sunday, May 20, 2018
10:00am – 12:00pm 
Nashville Music City Convention Center
Nashville, TN

The Consortium’s objectives include:

• Providing a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas to develop a cohesive, interdisciplinary strategy for treatment of people with pelvic floor diseases.
• Facilitating an exchange of ideas to set standards/guidelines that reflect the surgical and non-surgical management of diseases comprising all compartments of the pelvic floor.
• Promoting collaborative research projects and mechanisms for funding some of the standards/guidelines.

For more information regarding the consortium, please visit www.fascrs.org/pelvic-floor-disorders-consortium

The IUGA Terminology and Standardization Committee and the ICS Standardisation Steering Committee are pleased to announce that a joint report on the terminology for assessment of sexual health of women with pelvic floor dysfunction is now available for online ahead of print in both the International Urogynecology Journal and the Neurourology & Urodynamics Journal.

The document presents recommended terms and definitions for the assessment (including history and physical examination and investigations), diagnosis, and treatment of female sexual dysfunction. This terminology document builds on previous terminology documents in female pelvic floor dysfunction and aligns with current terminology documents addressing related aspects of pelvic floor (dys)function.

Rogers R, Pauls RN, Thakar R, Morin M, Kuhn A, Petri E, Fatton B, Whitmore K, Kingsberg S, Lee J. An International Urogynecological Association (IUGA) – International Continence Society (ICS) joint report on the terminology for the assessment of sexual health of women with pelvic floor dysfunction.

International Urogynecology Journal

Neurourology and Urodynamics

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