In addition to various Best Poster or Best Video award winners, the ERUS meeting typically features a ceremony for the John Wickham Award, the ERUS equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. In Bordeaux in 2024, the ceremony included two new awards being presented for the first time.
Prize for Robot Urology Surgical Science
The Prize for Robot Urology Surgical Science (PRUSS), presented by long-time ERUS board member and robotic urology innovator Prof. Van Der Poel (Amsterdam, NL), is given to a urologist who has made significant scientific contributions to the field of robotic urology. Van der Poel praised the ERUS meeting for its extensive live surgery and video content, “but of course everything you see here comes from science.”
The inaugural winner is Prof. Francesco Porpiglia (Turin, IT), who is being honoured for this pioneering work in image-guided surgery. He was also instrumental in developing new techniques in nerve growth factors for enhanced erectile function recovery. Prof. Porpiglia has also hosted an annual meeting in Turin, the Techno Urology Meeting.
Prof. Porpiglia made a brief statement expressing is pleasant surprise and a word of thanks to the ERUS committee that came to this decision.
ERUS Chair Prof. Alberto Breda commended Prof. Porpiglia’s prolific publishing “and his contributions to science and new technology in urology in the past twenty years. He is most deserving of this award.”
Alex Mottrie Award
The Alex Mottrie Award was awarded to Dr. Constantinos Adamou (Guildford, GB), for the best objective performance in the CC ERUS robotic training curriculum in the past year.
The award is named for and presented by Prof. Alex Mottrie, founding chairman of ERUS and the ORSI Academy in Belgium. Thanks to his efforts, urology was one of the first disciplines with standardised, structured robotic training. Every year, the best performing participant will receive a free registration to that year’s ERUS meeting.
The Mottrie Award will normally be awarded at the Annual EAU Congress but for logistical reasons it was presented in Bordeaux instead.
Prof. Mottrie, Dr. Adamou, Dr. Wagner
