{"id":297,"date":"2025-10-15T14:02:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/?p=297"},"modified":"2025-10-22T08:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:11:59","slug":"presidents-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/presidents-message\/","title":{"rendered":"President\u2019s Message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tFrom the President’s Desk\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t

October Reflections & Future Directions<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

It’s hard to believe we’re already in October. Like many of you, I’ve just come back from a holiday. My wife Clare and I finally completed the trip we had planned for 2020, which was cancelled due to COVID-19. We drove from Darwin to Broome, exploring the Top End and Kimberley, covering 3,500 km, and were deeply inspired by the incredible people and places we encountered. The trip gave me a chance to indulge in one of my hobbies: astrophotography. The dark skies of the top end are genuinely breathtaking. Taking three weeks off reminded me how vital it is to spend time with loved ones and pursue hobbies that fuel your passion and provide relief from the daily grind.<\/p>\n\t

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Milky Way Galactic centre over Mt Elizabeth Station on the Gibb River Road just after sunset.<\/p>\n

The year has flown by, bringing some fascinating developments for AGES. The recent inaugural Perioperative\/Surgical Meeting (PSM) in Melbourne was a great success with 350 attendees. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who made this possible, with special thanks to Dr Amani Harris, our AGES Honorary Secretary and the outstanding Chair of the meeting. Amani’s leadership and dedication were key to launching this new initiative. I also want to acknowledge our co-scientific chairs, Dr Sam Mooney and Dr Kate Tyson, for creating a programme that genuinely reflected our theme: Teams, Tools & Techniques. Their careful balance of the art and science of our field provided an inspiring and educational experience for all attendees.<\/p>\n

Thanks also to the Local Organising Committee: Dr Guy Fisher, Dr James Gledden, Dr Nyasha Gwata (AGES Board Member), Tish Potter, Dr Charlotte Reddington, and A\/Prof Jim Tsaltas (AGES Past President). Your hard work and attention to detail brought everything together seamlessly.<\/p>\n

We were honoured to welcome\u00a0Dr Amy Park\u00a0as our international guest speaker. Her insights into surgical ergonomics, the role of social media for surgeons, and managing large uteri during vaginal hysterectomy were both timely and thought-provoking.<\/p>\n

The pre-meeting Thursday workshops were another highlight, offering hands-on learning across a wide range of topics, including robotic surgery, vNOTES, gender-affirming surgery, advanced hysteroscopy, day-case hysterectomy, and endometriosis ultrasound.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Surgical Coaching: A New Frontier for AGES<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

One of the most exciting developments on the horizon is the introduction of surgical coaching to Australia and New Zealand. In her compelling article in this edition of\u00a0eScope<\/em>, Dr Keryn Harlow shares her personal journey of rediscovering her surgical Mojo through coaching. Her experience highlights the transformative potential of coaching, not just for skill enhancement, but for wellbeing and career sustainability. Unlike mentoring, coaching is a structured, goal-oriented process that can benefit surgeons at any stage of their career. With growing evidence supporting its impact on surgical performance and retention, AGES is exploring the development of a formal coaching programme. We invite expressions of interest from members keen to become coaches or coachees as we take steps to build a supportive and high-performing surgical community. Click here<\/a> to express your interest in becoming a surgical coach.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Supporting Rural & Regional Members<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

AGES is proud to announce the formation of a new Rural & Regional Committee, dedicated to understanding and addressing the unique challenges faced by our members working in rural and regional communities across Australia and New Zealand. This initiative reflects our commitment to equity in surgical education and support, regardless of geography. The committee – chaired by myself and comprising Dr Aaron Budden (Coffs Harbour), Dr Rachel Collings (Toowoomba), Dr Rachel Green (Ipswich), Dr Lauren Kite (Broome), Dr Blake Knapman (Tamworth), Dr Valentina Shaw (New Plymouth), Dr Wojciech Szubert (Mackay), Dr Temalesi Windust (Mount Gambier) and Dr Caitlin Prendergast (Whang\u0101rei), will soon be distributing a survey to gather insights into the factors influencing rural and regional Gynaecology practice. We encourage all members to participate and help shape how AGES can better support those serving our more rural and remote communities.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Partnership Meetings<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

The AGES Sponsorship Committee – Emma Readman, Amani Harris, Kirsten Connan, Mary Sparksman, and I recently met with our industry partners to review our collaborations. These meetings are vital to ensuring our educational activities continue to thrive. We thank our sponsors for their ongoing support and encourage members to engage with them in the commercial halls at our events.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Lap-D Turns 10<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

2026 marks the\u00a010th anniversary\u00a0of the AGES Laparoscopic Anatomy Pelvic Dissection (Lap-D) workshops at MERF in Brisbane. These workshops remain incredibly popular, often booking out immediately. Registration for the 2026 workshops opens on 1st<\/sup> December – don’t miss out.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 30th<\/sup> May 2026<\/li>\n
  • 29th<\/sup> and 30th<\/sup> August 2026<\/li>\n
  • 10th<\/sup> October 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t

    eScope & Communications<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

    Thank you to the eScope editorial team for their continued dedication. This edition is edited by Jenni Pontre, and we appreciate the effort that goes into each issue. Readership from the first issue was 317. I would like to thank all the eScope team personally, Kirsten Connan, Jenni Pontre, Nyasha Gwata, Keryn Harlow, Alison Bryant-Smith, Basia Lowes, Rebecca Nash, Akshara Shyamsunder.<\/p>\n

    As always, thank you for your support of AGES. Our strength lies in our community, and together we will continue to advance care for women across Australia and New Zealand. We look forward to seeing you in Auckland next year for the ASM.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"Untitled\n\t\t\t\t

    Warm regards,
    Dr Michael Wynn-Williams
    President, AGES
    6th October 2025<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dr Wynn-Williams recaps a busy 2025, celebrating new programs, rural initiatives, surgical coaching, and the exciting AGES 2026 event lineup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/october-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}