Dr. Salman Fazal Receives Third Consecutive Castle Connolly Top Doctor Honor

Salman Fazal, MD, has been named a 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctor, marking the third consecutive year he has received this prestigious designation. Only 7 percent of the nation's licensed physicians are selected annually as Castle Connolly Top Doctors for their specialties in their regions. Dr. Fazal, a hematologist and stem cell transplant and cellular therapy expert, practices at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Harrisburg, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Fazal's recognition is significant for patients in Central Pennsylvania, as it highlights his commitment to providing advanced cancer care, cutting-edge therapies, and comprehensive clinical research. With more than 16 years of experience, he evaluates and treats complex malignant hematologic conditions, including myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), B- and T-cell lymphomas, and multiple myeloma. He has a particular focus on high-risk, relapsed, and refractory disease, offering hope to patients who have exhausted conventional options.

His expertise includes hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cellular therapies, bispecific antibodies, and innovative targeted treatments. Notably, Dr. Fazal leads the bispecific therapy program in Central Pennsylvania, providing patients access to therapies that may be more effective when standard treatments fail. His leadership in the field is further evidenced by his previous role as Director of the Cell Transplantation Program at Allegheny Health Network, where he oversaw allogeneic transplant and cellular therapy programs, including CAR-T and emerging immune effector therapies.

During his nearly decade-long tenure at Allegheny Health Network, Dr. Fazal took over a transplant program with subpar survival rates and led its turnaround, performing nearly 200 allogeneic transplants with outcomes meeting expected benchmarks. He also established a dedicated long-term follow-up clinic for transplant patients, offering access to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) clinical trials, and successfully guided the program through FACT accreditation inspections for nine years.

Dr. Fazal's approach to patient care is deeply rooted in compassion. "I've trained in different systems, but the most important lesson wasn't medical; it was human," he stated. "Expertise matters, but compassion is what truly defines care — and it shapes how I practice every day." This philosophy is reflected in his practice, which offers both in-person and telemedicine consultations to enhance patient accessibility.

Beyond clinical practice, Dr. Fazal is dedicated to education and research. He was named Teaching Faculty of the Year (2018–2019) by the Hematology Oncology Fellowship at Allegheny Health Network and has served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Temple University and Drexel University. He has been a principal investigator on numerous phase II and phase III clinical trials, and his research has been published in leading medical journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Blood, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He was honored as an "MPN Hero" in 2025 and serves as a medical advisor and board member for the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Castle Connolly Top Doctors are nominated by peer physicians and selected by a physician-led research team based on criteria such as medical education, training, hospital appointments, and disciplinary histories. This recognition underscores Dr. Fazal's standing among his peers and his commitment to advancing cancer care. For patients seeking expert hematologic care, his repeated recognition serves as a marker of quality and trust.