AUGS committee members have the overall responsibility for supporting the AUGS Board of Directors and carrying out the committee charges set forth by the Society.

Minimum expectations for all AUGS committee members include:

• Commitment to serve a three-year term
• Participate in monthly committee calls (Meeting frequency varies by committee)
• Available for committee communication including phone and email
• Support the AUGS mission, goals and committee charges
• Attend at least one face-to-face committee meeting (typically in conjunction with the Annual Scientific Meeting) annually which includes periodically suggesting agenda items and asking timely and substantive questions (Number of face-to-face meetings varies by committee)
• Support the majority decision
• Notify staff when attending an external meeting/conference on issues that might be of interest to the Society

Click on the following for specific committee responsibilities and current committee members:

Executive Committee
Education Committee
Government Relations Committee
Membership Committee
Program Committee
Public Relations Committee
Research Committee

Executive Committee (Term Coincides with Officer Term)
The Executive Committee acts for the Society in all matters during the interim periods between Board of Director meetings.
 
Responsibilities include:

• Serving as the Finance Committee
• Serving as the Personnel Committee
• Reviewing and overseeing the Management Contract
• Overseeing revisions to the Policy Manual

Committee Members:
Dee Fenner, MD; Kris Strohbehn, MD; Deborah Myers, MD; Rebecca Rogers, MD; Geoff Cundiff, MD; Michelle Zinnert (Executive Director)

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Education Committee (3-year term)
To ensure high quality educational programming that meets the needs of AUGS members, the Education Committee is responsible for assessing members' educational needs, reviewing content for AUGS educational activities, developing new educational activities and opportunities, and serving as the editorial advisory work group for the Society newsletter (Quarterly Report).

Responsibilities include:

• Reviewing resident Scholars applications and participate in the selection process
• Writing scientific articles for the Urogyn Update (previously AUGS Quarterly Report)
• Maintaining a list of educational objectives for residents regarding training in urogynecology
• Monitoring industry-supported symposia at the Annual Scientific Meeting

Committee Members:

Kim Kenton, MD (Chair); Jeffrey Clemons, MD; Mikio Nihira, MD, MPH; Karen Noblett, MD; Kenneth Powers, MD; Sandra Valaitis, MD; Michael Vardy, MD; Eric Jelovsek, MD; Anna Marie Connolly, MD; Lily Arya, MD, MS; John Fischer, MD

Current Task Forces:
Literature Reviews – Jeffrey Clemons, MD (Co-Chair); John Fischer, MD (Co-Chair)

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Government Relations Committee (3-year term)
The primary role of the Government Relations Committee is to advance the Society’s legislative and research agenda, to interface with appropriate Congressional and Administration representatives, as well as national organizations to advocate on behalf of the legislative and reimbursement issues impacting the Society’s members. 

Responsibilities include:

• Serving the AUGS members by representing the urogynecology sub-specialty in key public policy issues that could adversely effect the profession and patient care while ensuring that the voice of the urogynecologist is at the table during important policy discussions and decisions.
• Engaging in discussions related to Medicare reimbursement issues. 
• Defending the urogynecology sub-specialty from unfavorable public policy decisions on delivery of care and insurance reform. 
• Implementing the Board’s direction as it relates to advocacy issues.
• Overseeing the Coding and Nomenclature Subcommittee.

Committee Members:

Alan Garely, MD (Chair); Cynthia Hall, MD; Elisa Trowbridge, MD; Roger Goldberg, MD; Mark Mokrzycki, MD; S. Renee Edwards, MD ; Sage Claydon, MD; Scott Litwiller, MD; Stewart Wetchler,MD; Vivian Aguilar,MD

Coding Sub-Committee:
Kristinell Keil, MD (Chair); Steven Speights, MD; Neeraj Kohli, MD; Kathy Jones, MD; Douglass Hale, MD; Lora Plaskon, MD, MSE; Barbara Levy, MD

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Membership Committee (3-year term)
The AUGS Membership Committee was formed to improve and promote the multidisciplinary nature of AUGS to meet the capacity of providing excellent women’s care.  Specific committee goals include increasing the multidisciplinary nature of AUGS, determining the needs of members and potential members, and continually improving the value of AUGS membership. 

Responsibilities include:

• Increasing the multi-disciplinary nature of AUGS.
• Determining the needs of members and potential members, particularly allied health and practicing physicians.
• Identifying new strategies to increase the value of AUGS membership and work with staff to implement them. 
• Providing a New Member/Visitor Orientation at the Annual Scientific Meeting.
• Overseeing the election process for the Society.

Committee Members: 
Elizabeth Mueller, MD (Chair); Betsy Greenleaf, MD; Josh Croland, MD; William Alford, MD; Carol Glowacki, MD; Jacinto Sanchez Anganta, MD; Matthew Ho, MD; Cindy Amundsen, MD; Andrew Cassidenti, MD; Rhonda Kotarinos; Howard Goldstein, MD; Meera Garcia, MD; Andrew Steele, MD; Babak Vakili, MD; Heidi Harvie, MD [Top]

Fellows Task Force (3-year term)
The purpose of this task force will be to identify and discuss issues concerning fellows, to advise the AUGS leadership regarding these concerns and to promote fellows’ interests within the organization.

Responsibilities include:

• Increasing fellow’s participation and membership in AUGS.
• Developing and participating in events and activities specifically designed for Fellows at the annual scientific meeting.
• Increasing communication amongst Fellows and Residents through email communication, the Web site and the quarterly newsletter.

Task Force Members:
Heidi Harvie, MD, (Chair); Matthew Barker, MD; Elisabeth Erekson, MD; Elizabeth Geller, MD; Eric Hurtado, MD; Elizabeth Gellar, MD; Lieschen Quiroz, MD; John Gebhart, MD (Lead AUGS Fellowship Director); Jeffrey Clemons, MD, LTC (Education Committee Representative); Howard Goldstein, DO (Membership Committee Representative); Victoria Handa, MD (Research Committee Representative)

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Program Committee 
The Program Committee is responsible for developing the schedule, post graduate courses and special events that will be held in conjunction with the Annual Scientific Meeting. This committee is also responsible for the complete abstract review process.

Responsibilities include:

• Assisting with faculty and post graduate course topic selection
• Providing input to the schedule of events at the Annual Meeting
• Proposing topics and speakers for Roundtable Discussion sessions
• Serving as session moderators
• Soliciting exhibitor feedback regarding the Annual Meeting
• Providing post-conference analysis
• Providing input and constructive plan to improve future meetings

Committee Members:
Rebecca Rogers, MD (Chair) ; Deborah Myers,MD (Co-Chair) ; Abbas Shobeiri, MD; Karen Noblett, MD 

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Public Relations Committee (3-year term)
The Public Relations (PR) Committee is responsible for disseminating information about AUGS to other professional societies, to the lay public and to industry and to foster relationships with other organizations that have similar educational, research and patient care goals. The PR committee also helps provide information on urogynecologic conditions, urinary incontinence and disorders of the female pelvic floor to other professional organizations and the lay public.

Responsibilities include:

• Developing treatment guidelines, best practices and/or positions statements as directed by the Board of Directors.
• Serving as a content expert for media inquiries.
• Working with the Society’s external PR agency on related initiatives.
• Attending outreach meetings and conferences as required for complimentary organizations.
• Writing informational pieces on urogynecology topics for the Web site or other professional/public organizations as part of outreach efforts.
• Reviewing any requests to link to the Web site as needed.
• Overseeing the Web site Subcommittee.

Committee Members: 
Sandy Culbertson, MD (Chair); Mary McLennan, MD; Ryan Stratford, MD; Stacey Wallach, MD; Charles Rardin, MD; Adam Steinberg, MD; Sangeeta Mahagan, MD; Catherine Matthews, MD

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Research Committee (3-year term)
The purpose of the Research Committee is to facilitate quality research among the AUGS membership aimed at the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pelvic floor disorders by hosting research retreats and post-graduate courses, improving access to research information. 

Responsibilities include:

• Designing and hosting various research retreats for AUGS members annually.
• Developing, implementing and maintaining a research tool section on the AUGS Web site in conjunction with the Web site sub-committee.
• Establishing and reviewing policy standards regarding use of data from AUGS meetings/electronic surveys, emails.
• Being available to the Annual Scientific Meeting Program Chair during the abstract review process.
• Being available to the AUGS Foundation to review research grant proposals.

Committee Members: 
Vicki Handa, MD (Chair); Vatche Miniassian, MD; MaryPat Fitzgerald, MD; Jennifer Wu, MD; Larissa Rodriguez, MD

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