Associates Committee area of the BSUG website

The Associates Committee represents the associate membership of BSUG which includes O&G speciality trainees, Special Interest Training Module (SITM) and subspecialty trainees, clinical and research fellows, and specialty and specialist (SAS) doctors working in urogynaecology.

BSUG associate members also gain affiliate membership of the International Urogynecological Association at no additional cost. This includes IUGA member benefits such as the IUGA Academy, webinars and training events, electronic access to the International Urogynecology Journal, and eligibility to apply for IUGA grants and observerships, including funded placements at units abroad.

Aims and Objectives

• Represent the views, interests and training needs of associate members to the BSUG Executive, and to the RCOG and partner organisations wherever urogynaecology training is under discussion.
• Deliver a monthly national webinar programme mapped to the RCOG Urogynaecology and Vaginal Surgery SITM and subspecialty training (SST) curricula, so that attendance supports documented curricular progression rather than sitting outside it.
• Organise the BSUG Associates Day combining hands-on wet lab workshops with clinical topic lectures delivered by national experts.
• Widen access to urogynaecology training across the UK, with particular attention to trainees whose local unit offers limited exposure to complex prolapse, continence surgery or mesh-related complications.
• Support research, audit and quality improvement by associate members, including submission and presentation at the BSUG Annual Scientific Meeting and participation in national collaborative work.
• Promote urogynaecology to the next generation of clinicians through an annual careers evening for medical students, foundation doctors and early-years O&G trainees, introducing urogynaecology as a career and setting out the routes into SITM and subspecialty training.

BSUG Associates WhatsApp Group

The committee runs a national WhatsApp group for BSUG associate members. Webinar and event announcements, useful external course information and news from BSUG and the wider urogynaecology community are shared.

This groups is also used to circulate subspecialty post advertisements, fellowship and research opportunities, and consultant vacancies, along with guidelines, papers and teaching resources worth passing on. As associate membership spans every region of the UK, it is often the quickest route to an answer on how another unit approaches a problem, or to finding a trainee at a centre you are thinking of visiting.

The group is only open to current BSUG associate members. Any current members who would like to join are asked to contact bsug@rcog.org.uk for further details.

Associates Day

The BSUG Associates Day is our flagship national meeting for urogynaecology trainees and associate members, and is built around two components:

Wet lab workshops
Small-group, hands-on sessions with a high faculty-to-delegate ratio, covering procedures that are difficult to practise outside theatre. Recent and planned stations have included cystoscopy skills and bladder assessment, urethral bulking workshops, anorectal manometry and endoanal ultrasound, OASI repair and SNM workshops.

Training and career sessions.
Non-clinical lectures and presentations aimed at topics such as SST and SITM interviews, portfolio building, consultant applications and interviews and job planning, delivered by consultant and senior members of the Urogynaecology community.

Get in touch

We welcome comments, questions and suggestions from associate members, including proposals for webinar topics, workshop stations and education/training events.

Committee vacancies are advertised to current BSUG associate membership.

Contact us at bsug@rcog.org.uk

Terms of Reference

Download here

Associates Committee

Dr Hawra Badri Chair Clinical Research Fellow St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester Chair of the Trainee’s Committee Email: bsug@rcog.org.uk

Dr Joy Troko Vice Chair Working as a ST6 O&G Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Coventry and Warwickshire Hospitals. I am doing the Urogynaecology and Vaginal Surgery SITM

Dr Naz Abbas Speciality Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Manchester

Dr Hara Koukouli Urogynaecology and Pelvic Floor Fellow University College London Hospitals

Dr Miriam O'Kane Subspeciality Trainee Urogynaecology Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge

Dr Zainab Al-Jawahiri Urogynaecology Clinical Research Fellow Manchester

Dr Wesam Hammouri Senior Clinical Fellow in Urogynaecology at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) RCOG ATSM - Advanced Training Skills Module in Urogynaecology and Vaginal Surgery | Certified

Dr Indranil Banerjee Subspeciality Trainee in Urogynaecology Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

Dr Emily Carter Subspeciality Trainee in Urogynaecology, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester.

Dr Georgina Smart Subspeciality Trainee in Urogynaecology, Glasgow and Clyde Hospitals.

Dr Nicola Adanna Okeahialm Subspeciality Trainee in Urogynaecology, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester.