Times are changing

Abstract

This phrase is not new. It has been and will always be so. However, changes do not occur at the same speed, and some of them are more significant historically than others. Our Association is currently right in the middle of one of those intense periods of change. This is particularly true of the Continuing Medical Education (CME) of our members — one of the most important activities of our Association — which is first and foremost a learned society. Bodies granting medical licenses are beginning to demand proof of continuing education with criteria that are getting stricter by the minute; pharmaceutical companies and equipment manufacturers are applying more stringent guidelines, and our ability to organize and accredit continuing training activities for our members is now evaluated by external agencies according to increasingly rigid regulations. In order to respond to these multiple changes, our Association has decided to establish an Office of Education (OE) that will allow us to better coordinate all the educational aspects related to the practice of urology. There are now 3 main facets to our organization: an associative section dedicated to relations with our members and other organizations, headed by our Secretary; a financial section supervised by our Treasurer; and an educational section coordinated by the new Vice President of Education. After debating at length whether this position should be filled by a urologist on a part-time basis or by a full-time employee of our Association, we decided, at the General Assembly in June 2006 and following the recommendations made by our Executive, to create the position of Vice President Education within the Executive and to hire a permanent Director of Education who would be based at our Central Office. The role of the Director will be to handle the operational aspects of the OE and to assist the VP Education, whose position will be more strategic. Last February, Dr. Peter Anderson was named interim Vice President to help set up the operations of this OE until the position is filled officially next June. After Dr. Anderson was selected, we began seeking a Director for the OE. Ads were placed, and about a dozen candidates were interviewed. We are pleased to announce that we selected and hired Dr. Harry Zwanenburg as our first Director of OE. Harry is an MD trained in public health in the Netherlands and is married to a Canadian, whom he followed to our country. He has administrative experience in hospital-based practice in Canada and was employed for the past decade by a large pharmaceutical company where he held different positions, among which some related to products in urology. He has extensive knowledge in the fields of medicine, urology, industry and continuing medical education. We are delighted to welcome him to our organization and are confident in his ability to support the VP Education in his task. With our new journal and Office of Education, we believe that the Canadian Urological Association will be in an excellent position to offer its members CME programs perfectly suited to their needs.