Salman Fazal, MD, has been named a 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctor, marking his third consecutive year receiving this prestigious recognition. 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. His work focuses on providing advanced cancer care, cutting-edge therapies, and comprehensive clinical research.
Dr. Fazal's expertise spans a range 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 particular emphasis on high-risk, relapsed, and refractory disease. He specializes in advanced therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cellular therapies, bispecific antibodies, and innovative targeted treatments. Notably, he leads the bispecific therapy program in Central Pennsylvania, offering patients options when conventional therapies are insufficient.
His leadership extends beyond clinical practice. As the former Director of the Cell Transplantation Program at Allegheny Health Network, he provided strategic oversight for allogeneic transplant and cellular therapy programs, including CAR-T and emerging immune effector therapies. When he took over the transplant program, survival rates were below par; under his guidance, the program achieved expected benchmarks, with nearly 200 allogeneic transplants performed. He also established a dedicated long-term follow-up clinic for transplant patients, providing access to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) clinical trials, and led the program through successful FACT accreditation inspections over nine years.
Dr. Fazal's commitment to patient accessibility is evident through versatile consultation options, including in-person office appointments and virtual telemedicine video visits. His educational background includes a medical degree from King Edward Medical College in Pakistan, an internal medicine residency at Rosalind Franklin University/Chicago Medical School and Griffin Hospital (a Yale School of Medicine affiliate), and a 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.
As a dedicated educator, Dr. Fazal was named Teaching Faculty of the Year (2018–2019) by the Hematology Oncology Fellowship at Allegheny Health Network. He has served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Temple University and Drexel University and has been a principal investigator on numerous phase II and phase III clinical trials. His research on transplantation outcomes, GVHD, 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.
"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." This philosophy underpins his approach to patient care, emphasizing the human connection as central to healing.
Castle Connolly Top Doctors are nominated by peer physicians and selected by a physician-led research team. Honorees are chosen based on criteria including medical education, training, hospital appointments, and disciplinary histories. This recognition highlights Dr. Fazal's exceptional contributions to oncology and his unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes.
