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Zachary Klaassen: Hi, my name is Zach Klaassen, I'm a urologic oncologist at the Georgia Cancer Center. I'm delighted to be joined on UroToday by Dr. Betsy Plimack, who is a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Betsy, thanks so much for joining us on UroToday.

Elizabeth Plimack: Absolutely, thanks for having me.

Zachary Klaassen: So you and I were both involved in a recent event in Philadelphia called the GU Oncology Early Thought Leaders Conference, and this was a really fun event. We had about 75 people ranging from ending residency, fellowship, early career. And so we had a two-day session. You gave several awesome talks. But I just want to just get your feeling on why was this event so important for somebody as successful as yourself to be involved with.

Elizabeth Plimack: Well, thank you. I mean, my involvement-- first of all, I'm grateful. Thank you for inviting me. I immediately gravitated to the topic because I think the topics that were discussed in the agenda that you and Andrea put together really cover things that I wish I had learned earlier in my career. And the resounding message from the attendees that I heard was that no one else teaches them these things.

So it's just, like, the keys and secrets to having a successful and sustainable career in oncology. The other reason it's really important for me to participate. I have such a passion for supporting young faculty in these really important roles. I think we hear a lot about burnout, we hear a lot about the newer generations really emphasizing the importance of shared parenting and work and life integration and all of these things. That is a passion for me as well, but I think until you have some guidance on how to set yourself up for success, it's really hard to figure out as you go. And sometimes the setbacks can be really detrimental to the faculty, in that they're unhappy, and to the field if they leave. So I would say those are all the key reasons that I was just so grateful to be a part of this.

Zachary Klaassen: Yeah, and I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, this is not something you can look up on PubMed. You can't go-- most conferences don't have these sessions. We go to ASCO, we go to SUO, AUA, ESMO. Great meetings, we love going to them, but this was specifically hitting topics like you said. Work-life balance--

Elizabeth Plimack: Yeah, yeah.

Zachary Klaassen: --management. How do you partner with each other? How do you build the--

Elizabeth Plimack: Right.

Zachary Klaassen: --stuff that you just can't find unless you go to an event like that, so I appreciate that feedback. What would you say your two or three highlights or favorite memories are from the weekend?

Elizabeth Plimack: First of all, I found the talks incredibly impactful personally. Just hearing Jay Shah's leadership talk, your talk on extreme organization. So-- Andrea's talk about the cooperative group. There was so much learning there for me, too, that you could really see the value. I'll just share with you a moment-- I mean, it wasn't a moment. It was the entire time I was up on that-- at the table, on the panel, you would look out, Zach, everyone was paying attention. Everyone was engaged. Nobody was on their phone.

I mean, it's just very unusual at meetings, myself included in the audience, not to be sort of doing many other things, but it was clearly riveting for the attendees. And that, as you know when you're up on the podium talking, that engagement from the audience was electric. So that was incredible.

And the other thing was seeing these folks interact with each other because they're their own peers. Like, I look at the panel, I look at Jay, I look at Andrea, look at you, we grew up together. We are each other's peers in this. And then you're looking out at the next group of peers, and what a great opportunity for them all to meet each other and have that connection. I still have friends that I met at the Vail Conference when I was a Fellow, the ACR Molecular Biology Conference. And that opportunity for them was also really palpable in the room and really exciting to see.

Zachary Klaassen: Oh, great. Well-put. I think the fact that not just prostate cancer, but bladder, kidney, it's all multi-collaborative between the specialty. I mean, we're talking about radiation oncologists, oncologists, urologists. And we could include nuke-med, everybody else involved. To get those connections at a meeting like this I think are super beneficial because you may not interact with them at other meetings, right?

Elizabeth Plimack: Yeah, yeah.

Zachary Klaassen: That's great. You kind of alluded to this early on, but why do you think it's important to have these events, either on an annual or biannual basis?

Elizabeth Plimack: Well, I think, first of all, these folks are going to go back to their co-fellows and co-faculty and everyone's going to wish they could have attended. There's going to be a lot of FOMO. So the fact that it's like, OK, well next year, you should apply next year, I think really helps. And I mean, the generations keep coming. We graduate fellows every year from all of our programs that, I think, it has to be sort of available as a continuing thing so we can grow the next several generations.

So incredibly grateful to the sponsors, to PCF, to you and Andrea for the vision and for putting this together and funding it because it really was just executed in the best possible way. Short enough to be doable, long enough to be meaningful. Our faculty who don't have a lot of funds to travel were supported. Not faculty. Our attendees who don't have a lot of funds to travel were supported, as were our faculty. And all of that, I think, made it incredibly successful and durable as an annual event.

Zachary Klaassen: No, I think you mentioned it, too. I mean, the partnership with industry is crucial. I mean, these events don't happen on their own. We had some great sponsors. And I think this is one of those things where if we want to keep doing it, we have the ability to do it because I think the industry folks are really engaged. They know the importance of getting to the fellows and the residents, and that partnership is really important. And we had a session just on partnering with industry.

Your message to somebody out there who's listening to this, who's getting it on their calendar for next year, what would you say the number one thing to take out of this meeting was and to get them to apply for next year?

Elizabeth Plimack: I think a couple of things we've already said, like really key strategies for success in academic life. Inspiration from the fact that-- I was personally sitting there inspired by your talk and others. So I think it's just one of those things that gives people energy and you can feel that in the room. And then really the connections. Connections with faculty, but also connections with each other that can then be durable over a long career in clinical academic medicine.

Zachary Klaassen: Yeah, well-said. Anything else we didn't hit on? Any couple closing remarks for our listeners?

Elizabeth Plimack: No. I think a lot of us didn't know what to expect because it's the inaugural year.

Zachary Klaassen: That's right.

Elizabeth Plimack: --out of the park with the sort of vibe, the feel, the icebreakers at the beginning, the way people came together, the size and the speakers were really, really good. So I hope to be invited back next year, and I will support it broadly across all my networks. It's a great, great meeting and a great opportunity.

Zachary Klaassen: Thank you for your involvement. Your energy was palpable. Thank you for doing this. We're generating excitement for next year, and hopefully we keep this going for several iterations. So thank you--

Elizabeth Plimack: Absolutely. Thanks, Zach!