He runs a cosmetic practice in breast and facial surgery and an NHS practice in cancers of the face and mouth (as a head and neck surgeon) and for complex skin cancers requiring reconstruction and surgery for cancer spread. He has performed cosmetic and reconstructive surgical procedures in the face, breast and body for over a decade and takes pride in the quality of the results he regularly achieves.

He qualified from the University of Glasgow in 1992 after which he trained in general surgery. This took place in the West of Scotland and in Oxford, following which he obtained the FRCS fellowship qualification in surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Thereafter, Taimur Shoaib undertook a higher doctorate in Head and Neck Cancer Plastic Surgery at Canniesburn Hospital in Glasgow. During this time, he helped develop a new surgical procedure called sentinel node biopsy in mouth cancer. He and the research team were the first to perform this successfully in this group of cancers and he has published many scientific articles on the technique. He has also lectured on the subject in many international conferences. He was subsequently awarded a higher doctorate in medicine by the University of Glasgow for his work in this area.

Taimur Shoaib continued his higher surgical training covering all aspects of plastic surgery in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Oxford. Although his training encompassed the whole remit of plastic surgery, he developed particular interests in head and neck cancer, skin cancers and aesthetic surgery. During this time he qualified again from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh with a Diploma in Medical Informatics. Towards the end of his training he obtained a further qualification from the same Royal College after passing the fellowship examination in plastic surgery.

His training ended with a fellowship in head and neck cancer surgery. Working with Plastic Surgeons, ENT surgeons and Maxillofacial Surgeons in one of only five fellowships in the country at the time, and the first plastic surgeon to complete such a fellowship, Taimur Shoaib worked in Oxford to learn the finer nuances of head and neck oncoplastic surgery before taking up his consultant post in Glasgow.

He has been a consultant and on the specialist register of plastic surgeons since the beginning of 2006 and enjoys a varied NHS practice. Although he specialises in head and neck cancers (of the face and mouth), he also treats people with skin cancers, cosmetic surgery requirements, plastic surgical trauma (including burns and hand injuries) and general plastic and reconstructive surgery. He also teaches surgical skills and techniques to the trainee plastic surgeons in Scotland who will be the consultant plastic surgeons of the future.

He is the chairman of the West of Scotland skin cancer and melanoma multi-disciplinary team and the chairman of the head and neck interest group of the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.

Finally, he has regular commitments in various training courses; teaching microsurgery, reconstructive flaps, as an examiner in the FRCS(Plast) pre-fellowship course, as a supervisor to medical students studying medicine at the University of Glasgow and as a supervisor introducing junior surgeons to reconstructive plastic surgery.

He also runs a successful private practice in cosmetic surgery and specialises in aesthetic surgery of the face and breast.

His current research interests include: sentinel node biopsy in head and neck cancer, tissue engineering, improving functional outcomes in head and neck surgery, melanoma skin cancer surgery and reducing the morbidity of complex reconstructions. His publications include a national guideline for melanoma, and several publications in melanoma and head and neck cancer, many of which have been cited by others in their scientific papers.

Taimur Shoaib is listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who.