Our consultants

Mr Young undertook his undergraduate medical training at the University of Edinburgh qualifying in 1999. During his basic surgical training he also worked in England and New Zealand. His subsequent surgical training was in Edinburgh with placements in both Dundee and Glasgow.

Mr Young undertook two years of postgraduate research at the Edinburgh Breast Unit investigating the effects of aromatase inhibitors on breast cancer biology. He has been a consultant in the Edinburgh Breast Unit since 2011 and has been the Clinical Director for 6 years. He has managerial responsibility for a team of surgeons and collectively they treat almost 1000 new breast cancers annually making them one of the busiest breast units in Europe.

He is also the surgical lead for the South East Scotland Screening Programme from where a large proportion of cancers are detected. He works very closely with other disciplines including pathology, radiology, oncology and clinical genetics and currently chair the Quality Improvement Team for the breast unit and have a keen interest in the safe streamlining and improvement of patient care pathways.

Out of work he enjoys running with his dog in the hills and watching his children play tennis and football.

Prior to Mr Elder's medical degree he was an engineer/scientist which took him from studying rocket combustion at Cambridge University to solving complex cooling issues at the CERN nuclear particle accelerator in Switzerland. Following a stint as a field engineer in Siberia to fund future studies, he undertook his undergraduate medical training at the University of Nottingham qualifying in 2008. Towards the end of medical school he travelled to East Timor to work as a disaster relief doctor and was awarded The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London prize for Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine. He completed his higher surgical training in Edinburgh and surrounding hospitals. During his training he completed a prestigious research fellowship at the world renowned Peter Macallum Cancer Research Centre in Melbourne Australia under Professor Iain Campbell looking at the efficacy of modern breast screening and the genetics of pre-cancerous breast disease. For his time there he was awarded the Ethicon travelling scholarship. This research has been published widely and has been presented around the world. He returned to Australia to complete a clinical fellowship under Professor Bruce Mann at the Royal Women’s Hospital of Melbourne. He undertook research into contrast enhanced mammography during this stay publishing the largest study to date on the topic and presenting the findings at conferences around the world.

In 2022 Mr Elder travelled to Japan to learn cryogenic minimally invasive breast surgery on the Sir James Fraser scholarship awarded by the Royal college of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is also an invited member of the faculty at the Royal College of Surgeons of Hong Kong, visiting twice a year teaching trainee surgeons critical care.

He is currently a consultant breast surgeon at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh where he is the breast surgery lead for the University of Edinburgh online surgery masters qualification.

In his spare time he enjoys endurance running and has completed the New Zealand Coast to Coast as well as the Marathon Des Sables 6 day race across the Sahara Desert in May 2023 whilst raising money for the local Edinburgh Breast unit cancer charity.

Professor Mike Dixon is a senior consultant breast surgeon in the Edinburgh Breast Unit at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre. He is Personal Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology from the University of Edinburgh and Clinical Director of the Edinburgh Breast Cancer Now Research Group within the University’s Institute of Genetics and Cancer. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) Medal from HRH Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 for his work on improving understanding of breast diseases as well as the optimal management of benign and malignant breast conditions.

He prides himself on the patient centred care he provides and offers the full range of surgical options for the management of all breast disease including specialist surgical oncology procedures for immediate and delayed breast reconstruction, and he work closely with my Plastic Surgery colleagues to deliver these. His experiences as a hospital porter, nursing assistant and DJ continue to inform his down to earth approach to the care of the patients he am privileged to look after.

His research focuses on the use of endocrine agents in the management of breast cancer and endocrine drug resistance. He has pioneered the development and use of aromatase inhibitors worldwide given in the neoadjuvant setting in large operable and locally advanced breast cancers. He has developed new operative procedures to improve cosmetic outcomes including immediate lipofilling at the same time as cancer excision, and the use of lipofilling LD flaps in breast reconstruction. Professor Dixon's work has advanced understanding and management of common benign breast conditions that has improved outcomes for patients internationally.

When not working he enjoys spending time with his family and his basset hound(s), and has used his love of running and cycling to raise charitable funds.

Mr Saleem graduated in Medicine in 1990 from Army Medical College in Pakistan and served for 13 years in the Pakistan Army. He completed his surgical training and passed the FRCS Ed in 1998. He then retired from the Army and came over to work as a middle-grade surgeon in West Yorkshire and completed his training by applying through Article 14. Mr Saleem gained GMC specialist registration in March 2012 and worked briefly as a locum consultant breast surgeon at York before getting a substantive post as Consultant breast surgeon at Edinburgh in June 2013.

He has a keen interest in therapeutic mammoplasty operation and implant breast reconstruction.

Mr Kulkarni's special interests are Oncoplastic breast reconstruction and breast duct micro-endoscopy.

He is a Consultant Surgeon at the Edinburgh Breast unit at the Western General Hospital. He has a special interest in teaching and training of the surgical trainees and is actively involved in the teaching programme at the Edinburgh Medical School. He is also a tutor for the postgraduate course in surgical sciences at the Edinburgh University. Mr Kulkarni is currently pursuing a part-time PhD in breast cancer with the Edinburgh University. He is a graduate of Bombay University, India (Sir Grant Medical College and JJ Group of Hospitals) and undertook postgraduate general surgical training in Bombay University. He then completed four years of surgical oncology training at Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bombay, India and developed an interest in management of breast diseases during this cancer surgery training. He has worked at the breast unit of Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital London where  he completed his  research project on Breast Duct micro-endoscopy.

I worked in London for several years before moving to Edinburgh.

Miss Fernandez graduated from Medical School at the University of Cordoba (Spain) and completed her General Surgical training in Barcelona at the Vall d’Hebron, one of the biggest hospitals in Spain. During that time, she was introduced to the basics of both breast surgery and breast cancer management. It was her work as a Regional Clinical Director in one of the biggest private surgery companies in Spain where her interest in Breast surgery and Oncoplastic surgery took place. She then relocated to the UK, Glasgow, working in the Breast Unit under the late Prof. Cook. In 2010 she started working in the Edinburgh Breast Unit and, shortly after, she completed a Master’s in Science in Oncoplastic surgery for the University of East Anglia. Miss Fernandez was then appointed Consultant Breast Surgeon in 2017.

As an honorary senior lecturer, she is involved in teaching undergraduate and post graduate medical students at the University of Edinburgh. As a surgeon, she works very closely with her colleague surgeons, radiologists, oncologists and pathologists and is very keen to embrace new surgical techniques and treatments that offer our patients a better outcome and a smoother experience. She is honoured to be part of one of the biggest Breast Units in the UK where we successfully treat thousands of cancer patients a year.

Matthew Barber is a Consultant Breast Surgeon working in the Edinburgh Breast Unit between the Western General Hospital and St John's Hospital.  He trained in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester and has been a consultant since 2004.  He is chair of the South East Scotland Breast Cancer Network and clinical lead for the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme for symptomatic breast disease for NHS Scotland.