Alexander Wood (14 June 1725 – 12 May 1807) was a Scottish surgeon, who was active in the convivial clubs which flourished in Enlightenment Edinburgh and was the founder of two of these.

His treatment of and friendship with the poet Robert Burns contributed to the local celebrity status which he attained.

[5] Two of his pupils held him in high regard; surgeon John Bell (1763–1820) dedicated his book Anatomy of the Human Body to Wood to him[6] and Sir Alexander Morison (1779–1866), the pioneer of psychiatric medicine, composed a poem in his honour.

[8][9] He was known for his personal idiosyncrasies and was often accompanied around Edinburgh by two pets, a tame sheep and a raven which perched on his shoulder.

[10] In June 1792 he infamously narrowly escaped death during the Dundas Riots when he was mistaken for the Lord Provost, Sir James Stirling, and threatened with being thrown off North Bridge.

[11] Lord Byron included a couplet about him in the 5th canto of his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in which he describes contemporary Edinburgh and some of its characters.