The American Urological Association has announced three new assistant secretary positions, including Vanderbilt’s Sam Chang, MD, to better align its international growth.
Chang, the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Urologic Surgery and professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, will oversee AUA’s partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“I am honored and very excited to represent the AUA to help establish important relationships internationally,” Chang said. “To be selected, I believe, reinforces the esteem that this national organization has for the Vanderbilt Department of Urologic Surgery led by Dr. David Penson and, previously, Dr. Joseph Smith.”
The AUA board of directors also appointed Aseem Shukla, MD, attending urologist and director of minimally invasive surgery in the Division of Urology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Angela Smith, MD, MS, assistant professor of Urology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, to assistant secretary positions.
As assistant secretaries, the three appointees will play critical roles supporting the AUA secretary in shaping and executing on the association’s international strategy, programming and activities by implementing the AUA’s international education plan and connecting with key urologists and other strategic partners across the globe.
Chang, Shukla and Smith will also serve as section editors for the AUA publication, AUANews.
The positions will build on the foundation set by Inderbir Gill, MD, during his tenure as AUA’s chair of global initiatives, which was completed Dec. 31, 2017.
“Today’s announcement further solidifies our commitment to advancing urology on a universal scale,” said AUA Secretary Manoj Monga, MD. “I would like to thank Dr. Gill for his many contributions to the international community and I look forward to working with Drs. Chang, Shukla and Smith to further expand and enhance our programs globally.”