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 each year as Castle Connolly Top Doctors for their specialties in their regions. 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, where he provides advanced cancer care, cutting-edge therapies, and comprehensive clinical research at its Harrisburg location.
With over 16 years of experience, 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. His expertise includes hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cellular therapies, bispecific antibodies, and innovative targeted treatments, offering patients options when conventional therapy falls short. He leads the bispecific therapy program in Central Pennsylvania.
Dr. Fazal's career includes serving as Director of the Cell Transplantation Program in the Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy at Allegheny Health Network for nearly a decade, where he 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 a transplant program with below-par survival rates and led its turnaround. He has performed nearly 200 allogeneic transplants, with program-level survival meeting expected benchmarks, and established a dedicated long-term follow-up clinic for transplant patients with access to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) clinical trials. He also oversaw successful FACT accreditation inspections over nine years.
Dr. Fazal earned his medical degree from King Edward Medical College in Pakistan, completed his internal medicine residency at Rosalind Franklin University/Chicago Medical School and Griffin Hospital, a Yale School of Medicine affiliate, and finished his fellowship 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, 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 was honored as an 'MPN Hero' in 2025. He also 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. To enhance patient accessibility, the practice offers versatile consultation options, allowing patients to schedule both in-person office appointments and virtual telemedicine video visits.
Top Doctors are nominated by peer physicians and selected by the physician-led Castle Connolly research team. 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, and honorees are chosen based on criteria including medical education, training, hospital appointments, and disciplinary histories. Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor.
