Desai Sethi Urology Institute’s Urology on the Beach 2026
Summary
- This year’s Urology on the Beach featured a new urologic oncology thematic format emphasizing in-depth sections focused on biomarkers, topics of debate and the year’s best research papers applied across prostate, bladder and kidney cancers.
- The meeting at Fontainebleau Miami Beach expanded coverage of urology’s future, highlighting how artificial intelligence, augmented reality and robotics are transforming the specialty.
- The inaugural Desai Sethi Urology Institute Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Ian Thompson, Jr., M.D., a legend in urology who delivered a thought-provoking lecture compelling urologists to question what they’ve come to believe is in patients’ best interests.
The latest science in urologic oncology biomarkers and personalized medicine approaches, as well as in-depth sessions about urology’s present and future integrating artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and surgical robotics, were among the crowd favorites at the 2026 Urology on the Beach conference hosted by the Desai Sethi Urology Institute (DSUI), part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
“We’re in our fourth year of this wonderful conference and what impresses me most is the conference’s breadth and depth, which seems to grow every year,” said Mark Gonzalgo, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., chair of the Miller School’s Department of Urology and Urology on the Beach co-course director.
The meeting draws a national and international group of attendees, but its strength is its intimate environment, one that creates community among medical students, residents, fellows and long-established clinicians and researchers and builds bridges between forward-thinking innovators and traditionalists. Everyone has a chance to connect and engage, according to Dr. Gonzalgo.
“The Rising Star section is among the sections that makes Urology on the Beach unique. The trainees presenting represent urology’s future,” he said. “It’s through their energy, their innovation and enthusiasm from which even folks who are well established in their careers can learn. We also offered the opportunity for debate in an expanded controversies section, where we challenged thinking based on data and experience. This includes our in-depth coverage of emerging technologies, which will challenge traditional urology. I also can think of no better place than Miami Beach in January to attend DSUI.”
“We ask ourselves every year, ‘How can we make this meeting more meaningful in terms of its position within the world of urology?'” said Dipen J. Parekh, M.D., chief executive officer at UHealth, DSUI’s founding director and executive vice president for health affairs at the University of Miami. Dr. Parekh was course director for this year’s conference. “We realized there are not many meeting platforms that fully recognize the incredible contributions some have made to the specialty, and this year we sought to change that with the inaugural Desai Sethi Urology Institute Lifetime Achievement award.”
The Inaugural DSUI Lifetime Achievement Award
The 2026 DSUI Lifetime Achievement Award honored Ian Thompson, Jr., M.D., for his profound contributions to urologic oncology and prostate cancer. Dr. Thompson was the founding chair of urology and director of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where under his leadership the academic institution became the number one NIH-funded urology program in the U.S. Dr. Thompson chaired the Early Detection Research Network of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the GU Committee of SWOG Cancer Research Network. He was president of the Society of Urologic Oncology, the American Board of Urology and, most recently, served five years on the NCI’s Board of Scientific Advisors.
Dr. Thompson returns to Urology on the Beach, he said, because of the quality of the science that spans all areas of urology.
Dr. Thompson accepted the award and delivered a pivotal Distinguished Lecture that discussed belief perseverance—retaining established beliefs even when faced by evidence that differs or changes over time. Dr. Thompson prompted the audience to think about those “sticky truths” of science, including the true value of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. It’s not that the screening isn’t valuable. Rather, Dr. Thompson asked the audience to demand more and better research to clarify whether PSA’s widespread use is in men’s best interests in the long run.
“Often, the prestige of an award enhances the stature of an individual. Sometimes, however, the individual is such a legend, an icon, that it elevates the prestige of the award. This was the case with Dr. Thompson,” Dr. Parekh said.
Innovation in Urology
This year’s program focused on innovation with “The Future of Urology” lectures, including a panel discussion about integrating AI, AR and robotics.
Urology on the Beach offered unprecedented coverage and a free-flowing discussion on digital innovation that isn’t part of many meetings today, according to Archan Khandekar, M.D., a DSUI assistant professor of urologic oncology.
“People have so many questions about these topics and our experts attempted to answer them all,” Dr. Khandekar said. “We had industry leaders in AI, AR, ambient AI, agentic AI and AI in pathology joining us. Intuitive’s vice president of digital products and machine learning insights, Anthony Jarc, shared where he sees the company’s robotic technology going. Panelists shared real-world applications for their technologies, including what we’ve accomplished with these technologies at DSUI.”
Biomarker Research, Controversies and Top Studies in Urologic Cancers
The “Biomarkers That Matter,” “Controversies” and “Best Three Studies” series bridged kidney, bladder and prostate cancers.
“Grouping important themes together, versus cancer types, was a notable thematic change we made for this year’s meeting,” said Bruno Nahar, M.D., associate professor of urologic oncology and the Eric and Elizabeth Feder Family Endowed Chair in Urologic Oncology Research at the Miller School. Dr. Nahar served as Urology on the Beach co-course director. “The new program centers on cross-cutting themes, such as biomarkers, and how we can apply these tools across those cancers.”
Biomarkers are generating significant interest in the field, including the use of biomarkers to assess the need for perioperative chemotherapy in bladder cancer, biomarkers to help distinguish which prostate cancer patients need treatment instead of active surveillance and new biomarker imaging and nuclear medicine modalities that can distinguish between benign and malignant masses in kidney cancer to help avoid unnecessary surgery.
Tackling controversies in urologic oncology has become a Urology on the Beach hallmark. In 2026, panelists debated how focal therapy might benefit a niche of prostate cancer patients for whom active surveillance may not be enough and surgery may be too aggressive and the pros and cons of active surveillance for kidney cancer.
Reconstructive Urology
Reconstructive urology presenters focused on complex cases, pelvic floor surgery for older adults, minimally invasive approaches for treating overactive bladder, robotic urethral reconstruction and more.
Among the guest speakers focused on reconstructive urology topics were Anne M. Suskind, M.D., professor of urology and chief of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at University of California, San Francisco, and Ariana L. Smith, M.D., the Alan J. Wein Professor of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Surgery and Chief of Urology at Pennsylvania Hospital.
“Drs. Suskind and Smith are leaders in the field and executive board members of Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU),” said Raveen Syan, M.D., associate professor of clinical urology at the Miller School, Urology on the Beach co-course director and a moderator of the reconstructive urology program. “With new innovations in the management of overactive bladder, learning from experts on how to select the optimal therapy for the individual patient was very impactful for this conference. Additionally, with an aging population of patients, having Dr. Suskind’s insight on how to evaluate for the frail patient to help guide treatment decision-making made this session highly relevant to practicing urologists.”
Dr. Smith said her presentation on minimally invasive overactive bladder procedures was particularly timely, given new SUFA/AUA guidelines.
“We now can take patients to advanced therapy if they don’t elect to do some of the conservative treatment options,” she said. “We talked about chemodenervation with botulinum toxin injection in the bladder and the various forms of nerve stimulation like percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, which is done in the office.”
Laura Horodyski, M.D., a reconstructive urologist at DSUI and assistant professor of urology at the Miller School, moderated a session on male robotic reconstruction.
“It was exciting to have Michael J. Metro, M.D., from Jefferson Urology Associates, speaking on the treatment of male stress incontinence, a type of surgery he has been doing for decades,” Dr. Horodyski said. “Daniel D. Eun, M.D., of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, one of the founders of the field of robotic urethral reconstruction, shared his insight and research. It’s great for us to get together and learn from people in the field who are doing things differently than what we may be doing and conducting research. With this small environment, you have one-on-one interaction. People are approachable, which isn’t generally what you see at bigger conferences. The sharing of information makes our clinical practices better and improves our patients’ lives.”
Katherine Amin, M.D., associate professor of clinical urology at the Miller School, also moderated reconstructive urology sessions.
BPH and Endourology
A series of Urology on the Beach sessions addressed benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and endourology.
Hemendra Shah, M.D., professor of clinical urology at the Miller School, presented on a variation to the minimally invasive holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) surgery he developed to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
“HoLEP is a good surgery and has been endorsed by guidelines in the U.S. and Europe. However, the major downside of the surgery is that a significant number of patients have temporary leakage of urine, post-surgery,” Dr. Shah said.
No Incontinence Enucleation (NICE) of Prostate aims to preserve anterior fibromuscular stroma and its overlying mucosa in order to avoid HoLEP’s post-surgical urinary incontinence. Preserving these tissues does not negatively impact the outcome of HoLEP.
“We found that if we were able to preserve that area properly, almost all patients were completely continent immediately after surgery,” said Dr. Shah, who presented unpublished data on nearly 100 cases.
Jonathan Katz, M.D., assistant professor of clinical urology at the Miller School, co-moderated a BPH session and presented during the BPH series on computer vision in endourology. Dr. Katz shared his experience in experimenting with a supervised autonomous robot-assisted ureteroscopy system integrated with a digital twin in the treatment of kidney stones and how that may apply to BPH.
“We discussed progress in computer vision and how this will be applied to surgical assistants in the future,” Dr. Katz said. “Our initial simulations and real-world experiments helped to confirm the digital twin’s ability to replicate physical motion with high fidelity. Our research suggests that digital-twin technology in robotic-assisted ureteroscopy has potential to offer a scalable and interactive platform for refining surgical BPH techniques.”
Men’s Health
Urology on the Beach sessions addressed a diverse array of men’s health topics, including infertility and sexual medicine during several sessions.
“The topics in men’s health keep expanding, and the 2026 speakers did a phenomenal job of updating us on key problems that men have as they age, including sexual dysfunction, as well as conditions that people rarely talk about, such as sexual dysfunction in men with spinal cord injury and in others with Kleinfelder’s syndrome,” said Bruce Kava, M.D., professor of clinical urology at the Miller School and director of men’s health at DSUI, who presented on solutions for revision penile implant surgery.
Thomas Masterson, III, M.D., assistant professor of clinical urology at the Miller School, moderated the meeting’s men’s health session. He also led a discussion during the infertility section on the management of infertility in patients with Kleinfelder’s syndrome, a genetic condition that universally causes infertility.
“Men with Kleinfelder’s syndrome can have children with IVF and surgical sperm extraction. James Kashanian, M.D., director of male sexual health at Weill Cornell Medicine, presented on that. I discussed the role of sperm DNA fragmentation in male infertility and how to improve it,” Dr. Masterson said.
Emad Ibrahim, M.D., associate professor of clinical urology at the Miller School, presented on the management of sexual dysfunction in spinal cord injury, a common complication that is rarely discussed.
“Based on published surveys, sexual dysfunction is the number one quality-of-life concern among men and women who suffer from paraplegia after spinal cord injury,” said Dr. Ibrahim, who discussed the multiple treatments and management options for both sexes. “And it’s the second most pressing concern after regaining arm and hand function for male and female tetraplegics.”
Rising Stars’ Growing Popularity
The second year of the Rising Star program, a Urology on the Beach staple, invited residents and fellows from multiple institutions to present research, innovative ideas and unique cases while interacting directly with leaders in the field.
“One of the main tenets of this program is collaboration with others,” said Dr. Syan, co-moderator of the Rising Stars Benign Urology program. “They learn from us and we learn from them, which is an opportunity to build community. The Rising Star program gives trainees, residents and fellows a platform to show us what they’re doing and gives us opportunities to ask questions, learn and collaborate. It feels like a very real way to build community.”
Interest in Rising Stars has grown, she added.
“Our first Rising Stars session last year went well, but this year we had so many rising stars that we almost ran out of space to do all the presentations. It’s nice to see how committed faculty from around the U.S. are to their trainees when they come to support their rising stars,” Dr. Syan said. “They are the future of our specialty.”
Collaborations and Partnerships
Dr. Syan moderated the “Editorial Voices in Urology” session, during which Stacy Tanaka, M.D., editor-in-chief of AUANews, the official news magazine of the American Urological Association, and professor and chief of pediatric urology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, talked about leadership opportunities at AUA for early-career and established urologists alike.
“I think the benefit of this meeting versus the annual AUA meeting is the annual meeting is so big and everyone is busy with their agendas. This meeting, being smaller, with so many different topics being discussed, I think is a much more open environment for new ideas,” Dr. Tanaka said.
Joseph Smith, M.D., professor of urology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Urology, the AUA’s flagship journal and the most widely read and highly cited journal in the field, presented on how medical literature reflects changes in society.
As in previous years, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Miller School and a collaborative partner with DSUI, which was the meeting’s platinum sponsor.
“At DSUI, we are proud of who we are and Sylvester is a big part of that,” said Sanoj Punnen, M.D., DSUI vice chair of research, professor of urologic oncology at the Miller School and co-chair of Sylvester’s Genitourinary Site Disease Group.
Tags: benign prostatic hyperplasia, clinical urology, Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Dr. Archan Khandekar, Dr. Bruce Kava, Dr. Bruno Nahar, Dr. Dipen J. Parekh, Dr. Emad Ibrahim, Dr. Hemendra Shah, Dr. Jonathan Katz, Dr. Katherine Amin, Dr. Laura Horodyski, Dr. Mark Gonzalgo, Dr. Raveen Syan, Dr. Sanoj Punnen, Dr. Thomas Masterson, men's health, overactive bladder, prostate cancer, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, urology, Urology on the Beach, USNWR Urology 2026