I am honored to receive the Dr. John Duckett Jr. Pediatric Urology Research Excellence Award from the Urology Care Foundation. To be nominated by my colleagues and friends from the Societies for Pediatric Urology and to be in the company of this award's distinguished past recipients is a humbling experience. At this moment, I realize how fortunate I was to have the opportunity provided by the Urology Foundation Scholarship at the beginning of my career and how impactful my mentors, friends, co-workers, and family have been throughout my 30-year career. Indeed, it is only through the effort, inspiration, and commitment of working together as a team that we truly fulfill our responsibility to society.

I am honored to receive the Richard D. Williams, MD Prostate Cancer Research Excellence Award in honor of the late Dr. Richard Williams. I was fortunate to meet and interact with Dr. Williams on many occasions, in particular during the early years of my training and when I was junior faculty at the University of Washington. Dr. Williams was a consummate mentor and scholar, always willing to give me more than my fair share of his precious time and attention while imparting wisdom and sage career advice. I am sincerely humbled to be among previous awardees and thankful to all my collaborators and colleagues who have contributed to my research in prostate cancer. I fully recognize the privilege of serving our patients and research community in pushing the frontiers of science forward and greatly appreciate the AUA and Urology Care Foundation for granting me this award.

Thank you for this tremendous honor of receiving the 2023 Urology Care Foundation Distinguished Scholar Alumnus Award. I was an AUA AFUD scholar during my oncology fellowship at USC with Don Skinner and Peter Jones as my clinical and research mentors. The AUA’s long-standing commitment to support young investigators with these awards and peer-reviewed research funding is critical to the success of urologic surgeon scientists. We all face daily challenges balancing the demands of a busy clinical practice and establishing oneself as independent investigators. Dr. Skinner and other mentors encouraged me to be a finisher noting that it is not research until it is published.  Peter Jones fostered a vibrant collaborative lab experience where I honed the basics of translational research. He coined the term “molecular urologist” which perhaps presaged my involvement 2 decades later in the TCGA project in bladder cancer. This experience provided me a foundation to build upon and when I returned to Baylor to start my academic career I was encouraged by many basic science and clinical faculty who shared a similar vision of supporting young investigators in their mission to build a research program. I am forever grateful to the AUA and its leaders for paving the way for my career and supporting these programs vital to our specialty and our patients and caregivers.

Being mentored is like being a leaf on a fall day. You’re floating and suddenly a gentle breeze lifts you. It may be an imperceptible breeze - like a smile or a nod or a “you’re doing a good job up there. But it lifts you higher and carries you further than ever before. This room is full of breezes. Many of you have shaped supported and stimulated young investigators like I once was. A thank you does not suffice. I am humbled to be singled out for an award each of you are more deserving of. My father was my first mentor. Certainly, patient with my mistakes. Gentle redirection and reassurance. My children became my first mentees. Yet I soon realized that the roles were fluid. I learned more from them than they could from me. And the same is true for the students, residents, fellows, and young faculty whom I have been fortunate to work with. Thank you to them. And thank you to the UC Foundation.

I am immensely grateful to the Urology Care Foundation for selecting me to receive the Outstanding Graduate Scholar Award and for their support of my project “AIM High: DNA Methyltransferase Inhibition and Immune Stimulation in Bladder Cancer”. My mentors at the University of Washington, Dr. Jonathan Wright and Dr. Ming Lam, have been instrumental in creating and carrying out this project, and I am forever thankful for their guidance. The Research Scholar Award has provided me an incredible opportunity to develop my translational research skills and collaborate with other scientists. This experience directly led to my selection to participate in the Society of Urologic Oncology Young Urologic Oncologists Clinical Trials Development Workshop, which will allow me to continue exploring bench-to-bedside concepts for this project. I sincerely thank the Urology Care Foundation for this formative experience and for supporting me in the pursuit of more effective treatment options for patients with bladder cancer.

It is extremely rewarding and humbling to receive the distinction of being a 2023 Outstanding Graduate Scholar. I am so grateful to the AUA and Urology Care Foundation for not only seeing potential in and supporting our projects, but the efforts of so many others across our field. This funding has led to many new opportunities for collaborations and allowed us to ask novel questions and seek solutions to problems that push our field forward. I am especially grateful for those I am fortunate to work with daily, including our biostatisticians Stephanie Daignault Newton, Ralph Jiang, Rod Dunn, and Matthew Schipper. Most importantly, I’d like to recognize my mentors who continue to guide me every step of the way, including Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan, Dr. Ganesh Palapattu, and Dr. Todd Morgan. Through their guidance and the support of the AUA and Urology Care Foundation, I can continue my pursuit of a career in academic urology as a surgeon-scientist. I look forward to continuing this journey with the hope that our efforts will benefit patients and the community as a whole.