More Than 270 Allegheny Health Network Physicians Recognized as “Top Doctors” by Castle Connolly, Pittsburgh Magazine

Monday, April 27, 2026

Press Releases

PITTSBURGH - More than 270 Allegheny Health Network (AHN) physicians have been named to the 2026 "Top Doctors" list, published annually by Castle Connolly and Pittsburgh Magazine.

In all, AHN's doctors accounted for more than 28 percent of all physicians named to the regional list this year. The full list of Pittsburgh's Top Doctors can be viewed here.

"We are thrilled that Castle Connolly and Pittsburgh Magazine have named a record-breaking number of AHN physicians to the annual Top Doctors list," said Bethany Casagranda, DO, MBA, chief medical officer for AHN and president of the network's physician organization. "I have worked alongside many of this year's honorees, and I am proud to call them colleagues. Congratulations to the exceptional medical specialists, surgeons, researchers, educators and primary care physicians within our growing AHN family who were named to this year's list, and who serve the Western Pennsylvania region with compassion and expertise every day of the year."

Pittsburgh Magazine generates its annual "Top Doctors" list through peer-reviewed surveys conducted by Castle Connolly, a New York research and information company. Each year, Castle Connolly surveys tens of thousands of practicing physicians across the country to ensure its list reflects the latest in quality care on both the national and regional levels.

Castle Connolly also annually recognizes "Rising Stars," early-career doctors who are emerging leaders in the medical community. This year, two AHN-affiliated physicians made the "Rising Stars" list.

The list of AHN Top Doctors can be found below:

Anesthesiology
Daniel Cormican, MD
Mark O. Stypula, MD
Richard W. Stypula, Jr, MD

Cardiac electrophysiology
Emerson H. Liu, MD
Amit J. Thosani, MD

Cardiovascular disease
Craig M. Alpert, MD
George P. Bekic, DO
George P. Gabriel, DO
M. Azam Hadi, MD
Steven J. Hussein, MD
Valentyna Ivanova, MD
Paul C. Kleist, MD
Kenneth McGaffin, MD
Amish M. Mehta, MD
Indu G. Poornima, MD
Michael Popeck, DO
Anita U. Radhakrishnan, MD
Amresh Raina, MD
Daniel A. Rubin, MD
Adrienne Schouchoff, MD

Colon and rectal surgery
Steven A. Esser, MD
Richard Fortunato, DO
James T. McCormick, DO

Dermatology
Charles E. Mount III, MD
Lisa A. Pawelski, MD
Joseph Stuckert II, MD
Kristen Whitney, DO

Diagnostic radiology
Bethany U. Casagranda, DO
Matthew S. Hartman, MD
Kamyar Ilkhanipour, MD
Carmen Latona, MD
Jason D. Long, MD
Timothy J. Mickus, MD
Matthew J. Miller, MD
Jeffrey S. Mueller, MD
William M. Peterson II, MD
Robin N. Sobolewski, MD

Endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism
Patricia L. Bononi, MD
Michelle L. Griffith, MD
Saira Khan, MD
Noah D. Lubowsky, MD

Family medicine
Salah A. Almoukamal, MD
Bruno Casile, DO
Robert A. Crossey, DO
Nupur Dashottar, MD
Gregory J. Ferenchak, MD
Rajiv K. Jana, DO
Radhika Kotha, MD
Patrick M. Lowden, MD
Sunjay Mannan, MD
Roberta N. Miller, MD
Julie M. Nelson, DO
Geno J. Pavlick, MD
Elizabeth A. Slaymaker, MD
Dinesha T. Weerasinghe, MD
Dorothy Wilhelm, MD
Steven R. Wolfe, DO

Gastroenterology
Elie Aoun, MD
Michael M. Babich, MD
Manish K. Dhawan, MD
Sandra M. El-Hachem, MD
Akash B. Gadani, MD
Saad Javed, MD
Abhijit Kulkarni, MD
H. David Lipsitz, MD
Marcia C. Mitre, MD
Cristina Strahotin, MD

Gynecologic oncology
Sarah Crafton, MD
Thomas C. Krivak, MD
Christopher B. Morse, MD

Hand surgery
Robert C. Brabender, MD
Juan M. Giugale, MD
Peter Tang, MD

Hematology
Rama Bhagavatula, MD
Cyrus M. Khan, MD
Anna Koget, DO
John Lister, MD
Prerna Mewawalla, MD
Deep Shah, MD

Infectious disease
Chiu-Bin Hsiao, MD

Internal medicine

Andrew C. Adams, MD
Elizabeth Cuevas, MD
Susan L. Deakin, DO
Anastasios T. Kapetanos, MD
Christine L. Mackey, MD
Richard N. McQuigg, MD
James S. Meditch, MD
John G. Pazin, MD
Joseph G. Sabol, MD

Interventional cardiology
Samer Azouz, MD
John Balacko, MD
Mithun Chakravarthy, MD
Aashish Dua, MD
Ramzi F. Khalil, MD
David M. Lasorda, DO
Wadih Nadour, MD
Venkatraman Srinivasan, MD
J. Travis Wilson, MD

Medical oncology
Ali I. Amjad, MD
Helen I. Analo, MD
Niyati D. Asher, MD
Nathan Bahary, MD
Alexander Barsouk, MD
Diane M. Buchbarker, MD
Maricel D. Castaner, MD
Antonios Christou, MD
Gene G. Finley, MD
Larisa Greenberg, MD
Bushra K. Haq, MD
Alexander Helfand, MD
Mohammed F. Islam, MD
Amjad Jalil, MD
Ariel Lopez-Chavez, MD
Shifeng S. Mao, MD
Sarah M. Miller, DO
Casey A. Moffa, DO
Dulabh K. Monga, MD
Zachary Otaibi, DO
Neeta P. Pathe, MD
Jason C. Stepp, MD
Jason P. Thomas, MD
Brian M. Thomas, MD

Nephrology
Swati Arora, MD
Samuel C. Baroody, DO
Patricia E. Khalil, MD
Parineesha Nath, MD
Joshua C. Sysak, DO
Gabriel T. Weinberg, DO

Neurological surgery
Akash Agarwal, MD
Justin Davanzo, MD
Hae Dong Jho, MD
Jody Leonardo, MD
Lara W. Massie, MD
Nestor D. Tomycz, MD
Kevin M. Walsh, MD
Donald M. Whiting, MD
Alexander K. Yu, MD

Neurology
Susan M. Baser, MD
Troy T. Desai, MD
Dolores Dominguez Santamaria, MD
Mary C. Flaherty, DO
John Herbst, DO
Timothy A. Leichliter, MD
Barbara McManus, MD
William S. Musser, MD
Sukhmani Sandhu, MD
Thomas F. Scott, MD
George A. Small, MD
Andrea S. Synowiec, DO
James P. Valeriano, MD

Obstetrics and gynecology
Sonia Aneja, MD
Gary R. Bergman, MD
Ronald L. Cypher, MD
Grace P. Ferguson, MD
Rick Ferris, DO
Christine M. Gallis, MD
Marcia E. Klein-Patel, MD
David A. Logan, MD
Benjamin B. Peticca, MD
Helana C. Pietragallo, MD
Jessica Sassani, MD
Danielle L. Smith, MD
Ingrid A. Wecht, MD

Ophthalmology
Randall L. Beatty, MD
Phillip H. Choo, MD

Orthopaedic surgery
Daniel T. Altman, MD
Gregory T. Altman, MD
Patrick J. DeMeo, MD
Lisa B. Ercolano, MD
Darren A. Frank, MD
Michael H. Maher, MD
Daniel March, MD
Brian A. Mosier, MD
Dennis J. Phillips, MD
Steven Regal, MD
Ryan Sauber, MD
James J. Sferra, MD
Nicholas G. Sotereanos, MD
Edward R. Westrick, MD

Otolaryngology
Todd A. Hillman, MD
Shelly J. McQuone, MD
Matthew B. Straka, MD
Warren C. Swegal, MD

Pathology
Alexis Bousamra, MD
Kossivi E. Dantey, MD
Joseph DelTondo, DO
Kymberly Gyure, MD
Michael Landau, MD
Sharon X. Liang, MD
Yulin Liu, MD
Edward F. Lynch, Jr, MD
Patrick Memari, DO
Stacey B. Miller, MD
Shuaib Okponobi, MD
Angela M. Sanguino Ramirez, MD
Alexander M. Strait, MD

Pediatric cardiology
Prapti M. Kanani, MD
Pediatric orthopaedic surgery
Stephanie L. Schneck-Jacob, MD

Pediatric otolaryngology
Farrel J. Buchinsky, MD

Pediatrics
Wendy Bacdayan, MD
Brian W. Donnelly, MD
Jeffrey P. Ubinger, MD

Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Timothy M. Burg, DO

Plastic surgery
Oluseyi Aliu, MD
Howard D. Edington, MD

Psychiatry
Alicia J. Kaplan, MD

Pulmonary disease
Ahmad AlhajHusain, MD
Omer A. Bajwa, MD
Marvin R. Balaan, MD
Stephanie Baltaji, MD
Tariq J. Cheema, MD
Briana E. DiSilvio, MD
Tiffany L. DuMont, DO
Sohini Ghosh, MD
Amit Goulatia, MD
Anil S. Menon, MD
Giath Shari, MD
Perry Tiberio, MD

Radiation oncology
Youssef M. Arshoun, MD
James A. Betler, DO
Colin E. Champ, MD
Athanasios Colonias, MD
Zachary Horne, MD
Stephen M. Karlovits, MD
Alexander Kirichenko, MD
Daryl Makishi, DO
Ankur K. Patel, MD
Gunj Patel, MD
Paul B. Renz, DO
Bindu V. Rusia, MD
Chirag Shah, MD
Mark G. Trombetta, MD
Rodney E. Wegner, MD

Reproductive endocrinology/infertility
Meredith L. Snook, MD

Rheumatology
Tanmayee S. Bichile, MD
Adam L. Dore, DO
Holly A. Lowther, MD
Sonia J. Manocha, MD
Susan M. Manzi, MD

Sleep medicine
Daniel A. Shade, Jr, MD

Sports medicine
Marco A. Alcala, MD
Todd D. Franco, DO
Edward D. Snell, MD
Ravi K. Ved, DO

Surgery
Suzanne B. Coopey, MD
George M. Eid, MD
Lorenzo Machado, MD
Stanislav S. Nosik, MD
Allan S. Philp, Jr, MD
Harry K. Williams, Jr, MD

Surgical oncology
Casey J. Allen, MD
David L. Bartlett, MD
Suzanne C. Schiffman, MD
Alexander H. Shannon, MD
Patrick L. Wagner, MD

Thoracic and cardiac surgery
Stephen H. Bailey, MD
Walter E. McGregor, MD

Thoracic surgery
Hiran C. Fernando, MD
Mathew A. Van Deusen, MD
Benny Weksler, MD

Urogynecology/female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery
Laura F. Gephart, MD
Erin S. Lavelle, MD
Lindsay Turner, MD

Urology
Jordan L. Allen, MD
Nasir B. Chaudry, MD
Peter Lund, MD
John C. Lyne, MD
Ralph J. Miller, Jr, MD
Goutham Vemana, MD

Vascular and interventional radiology
Paul M. Kiproff, MD

Vascular surgery
Bart A. Chess, MD
Satish C. Muluk, MD

Rising stars
Stephen Abel, DO (radiation oncology)
Basem Dahshan, MD (radiation oncology)