Scott Karlan, MD, FACS
Director of Physician Education, Saul and Joyce Brandman Breast Center
Scott Karlan, MD is Director of Physician Education at the Saul and Joyce Brandman Breast Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, A Project of the Women's Guild. Dr. Karlan sees private patients, teaches medical students and residents, and oversees a number of ongoing clinical and basic science research projects.
Dr. Karlan is not only experienced with state-of-the-art surgical techniques, but also has years of experience with nonsurgical, minimally invasive approaches. As an example, he has removed dozens of benign breast masses without surgery using a technique called ultrasound-guided mammotome biopsy. He is one of the only surgeons in California performing computer-guided (stereotactic) needle biopsies. He teaches minimally invasive procedures as part of the National Ultrasound Faculty of the American College of Surgeons. He has lectured and written articles on breast cancer, breast surgery and reconstruction.
Prior to joining the academic faculty at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 2000, Dr. Karlan was in private practice for 13 years. While in private practice, he helped pioneer techniques that reduced pain and hastened recovery from breast surgery. These techniques allow most breast surgery to be done on an ambulatory basis. Because of this experience, he helped to write many of the original accreditation standards currently used by the Institute of Medical Quality to assure the safety of outpatient surgery centers in California.
Dr. Karlan is an active member of several professional societies, including the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of General Surgeons and the American Society of Breast Surgeons. He is a former President of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, he is a multi-term Delegate to the California Medical Association, and he represents the American Society of General Surgeons as its Delegate to the American Medical Association. He was board-certified in 1988, re-certified in 1996 and in 2005, and has been an Associate Board Examiner.
Dr. Karlan received his bachelor's degree from Harvard College. He then enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Engineering at the same time. He returned to Harvard and completed his medical studies, and then he went to Yale-New Have Hospital for his residency in general surgery.
