HARRISBURG, PA, September 01, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Salman Fazal, MD, has been named a 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctor, the third year he has received the esteemed Top Doctor designation. Only 7 percent of the nation's licensed physicians are chosen each year as Castle Connolly Top Doctors for their specialties in their regions.

With more than 16 years of experience, Dr. Fazal is a hematologist and stem cell transplant and cellular therapy expert with UPMC Hillman Cancer Center — an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine — recognized for providing advanced cancer care, cutting-edge therapies, and comprehensive clinical research at its Harrisburg location.

"I've trained in different systems, but the most important lesson wasn't medical; it was human," Dr. Fazal stated. "Expertise matters, but compassion is what truly defines care — and it shapes how I practice every day."

Dr. Fazal evaluates and treats a variety of complex malignant hematologic conditions including myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), B- and T-cell lymphomas, and multiple myeloma, with a specific emphasis on high-risk, relapsed, and refractory disease.

Key procedures include:
- Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
- Cellular therapies
- Bispecific antibodies
- Innovative targeted treatments

Dr. Fazal specializes in advanced therapies — stem cell transplantation, cellular therapies, bispecific antibodies, and targeted treatments that give patients options when conventional therapy falls short. He leads the bispecific therapy program in Central Pennsylvania.

As Director of the Cell Transplantation Program in the Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy at Allegheny Health Network for nearly a decade, Dr. Fazal provided clinical, operational, and strategic leadership for allogeneic transplant and cellular therapy programs, including CAR-T and emerging immune effector therapies. Earlier in his career, he took over that transplant program when survival rates were below par and led its turnaround. He has performed nearly 200 allogeneic transplants, with program-level survival meeting expected benchmarks, and built a dedicated long-term follow-up clinic for transplant patients with access to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) clinical trials. He also led the oversight behind successful FACT accreditation inspections over nine years.

To enhance patient accessibility, the practice offers versatile consultation options, allowing patients to schedule both in-person office appointments and virtual telemedicine video visits.

Dr. Fazal earned his medical degree from King Edward Medical College in Pakistan. He completed his internal medicine residency at Rosalind Franklin University/Chicago Medical School and Griffin Hospital, a Yale School of Medicine affiliate, before completing his fellowship training in hematology and oncology at Allegheny General Hospital, where he served as Chief Fellow. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology.

A dedicated educator, Dr. Fazal was named Teaching Faculty of the Year (2018–2019) by the Hematology Oncology Fellowship at Allegheny Health Network, reflecting his commitment to training the next generation of physicians. He has served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Temple University and Drexel University and as a principal investigator on numerous phase II and phase III clinical trials. 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. His research on transplantation outcomes, graft-versus-host disease, and hematologic malignancies has been published in leading medical journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Blood, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Top Doctors are nominated by peer physicians and selected by the physician-led Castle Connolly research team.

About Castle Connolly
Castle Connolly publishes its Top Doctors list at castleconnolly.com and in a variety of print and online partner publications. Nominations are open to all board-certified MDs, DOs, and DPMs. The Castle Connolly team chooses honorees based on nominee criteria that includes their medical education, training, hospital appointments, and disciplinary histories.

Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor.

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