MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Welcome to this edition of UPdate, the newsletter of the Australian & New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group Ltd (ANZUP)! I remember my 10th birthday vividly. I had my closest friends around; we had a great day of fun including the entertainment of going to a movie, complete with treats; and my young all-things-spaceloving mind was blown away by going to the museum to see an actual rock from the moon. It was sealed in a glass bubble full of nitrogen, and was a thousand shades of grey and brown with tantalising glints reflecting in the lights. I stood there wrapped in the wonder of it all, and to this day I will never understand the mind of the lady next to me who said, “Huh, it’s just a rock.” Then we went home, worn out and happy, and afterwards as always I had the job of writing thank you cards to everyone who gave me presents on such a notable occasion. This year we are celebrating ANZUP’s 10th birthday, and as I write we are not long out from our Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney in July. The sheer
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happiness and wonder of my own 10th birthday (so many, many years ago…) have come back afresh. The ASM was another chance to renew connections with old friends and make connections with new ones. The program was engrossing and entertaining, and full of treats. I was amazed by the science and by the humanity of what we do and who we are. We went home buzzing, needing a rest but at the same time energised. And now here I am, writing a thank you card to you all. The only difference is that I did not meet a single rock-brained person, and for that I am very grateful. The ASM is a very important part of ANZUP’s activities. We continually need to learn more about our fields but also to hear about what others are doing. That in turn triggers new ideas and connections, and before we know it we have novel research proposals and trial ideas coming through, or new collaborations, or challenges to our everyday status quo. We were able to hear and learn from local and international experts at the ASM and then talk and connect with them in informal settings, often leading to new links.
The program was engrossing and entertaining, and full of treats. I was amazed by the science and by the humanity of what we do and who we are.
