David Charles Fajgenbaum MD MBA, MSc

Asst Prof of Medicine, Translational Medicine/Human Genetics, UPenn; Executive Director, Castleman Disease Collaborative Network

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3535 Market Street, HUPFloor 7, Suite 700, Room 707Philadelphia, PA 19104

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Education & Training

Wharton School - University of PennsylvaniaMBA, Health Care Management, 2013 - 2015
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of PennsylvaniaClass of 2013
University of OxfordM.S., Public Health, 2008
Georgetown UniversityBS, Human Sciences, 2003 - 2007

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Certifications & Licensure

American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Orthopaedic Surgery

Awards, Honors, & Recognition

30 under 30 in Healthcare Forbes, 2015
RARE Champion of Hope - Science Gloabl Genes, 2015
CMS Meaningful Use Stage 1 Certification Allscripts Professional EHR, Allscripts, 2012, 2014

Clinical Trials

Sirolimus in Previously Treated Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease Start of enrollment: 2019 Sep 25
ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
PHASE2

Publications & Presentations

PubMed

23 citations
Expert Perspective: Diagnosis and Treatment of Castleman Disease.
Luke Y C Chen, Lu Zhang, David C Fajgenbaum
Arthritis & Rheumatology. 2026-01-01
20 citations
Diagnostic challenges of the idiopathic plasmacytic lymphadenopathy (IPL) subtype of idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD): Factors to differentiate from Ig...
Asami Nishikori, Midori Filiz Nishimura, David C Fajgenbaum, Yoshito Nishimura, Kanna Maehama
Journal of Clinical Pathology. 2025-12-15
5 citations
International Consensus Histopathological Criteria for Subtyping Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease Based on Machine Learning Analysis.
Midori Filiz Nishimura, Tomoka Haratake, Yoshito Nishimura, Asami Nishikori, Remi Sumiyoshi
American Journal of Hematology. 2025-09-01

Journal Articles

Cytokine Storm
David Fajgenbaum, MD, The New England Journal of Medicine
Predictors of Response to Anti‐IL6 Monoclonal Antibody Therapy (Siltuximab) in Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease: Secondary Analyses of Phase II Clinical Trial...
David C Fajgenbaum, Craig Tendler, British Journal of Haematology
International, Evidence-Based Consensus Treatment Guidelines for Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease
Aaron Goodman, Corey Casper, Sudipto Mukherjee, Peter Voorhees, Angela Dispenzieri, David C Fajgenbaum, Razelle Kurzrock, Raj Jayanthan, Sunita Nasta, Thomas S Uldrick..., Blood

Books/Book Chapters

Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America: Castleman's Disease
Chapter: Castleman Disease Pathogenesis
David C. Fajgenbaum & Dustin ShillingEditors: Frits van Rhee, Nikhil C. Munshi.Elsevier2018
Multiple myeloma, the state of the art
Chapter: Castleman Disease
Page 259 - 270Amy Y Liu & David C. FajgenbaumEditors: Jorge Vega.Permanyer2017
We Get It: Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults
Heather Servaty-Seib & David C. FajgenbaumJessica Kingsley Publishers2015

Abstracts/Posters

Type I Interferon Response Identified through Phenotypic and Transcriptional Profiling of Circulating Immune Cells during Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease Flare
David C Fajgenbaum, 61st Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting, Orlando, FL, 12/7/2019
Quantitative Changes in Serum Proteins Including CXCL13 Are Early Indicators of Response to Anti-IL6 Therapy in Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease
David C Fajgenbaum, 61st Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting, Orlando, FL, 12/7/2019
Hypercytokine-Producing Cells and Oligoclonal T-Cell Populations in Lymph Nodes from Castleman Disease Patients
Anna Wiing, Wenzhao Meng, Gerald Wertheim, Dale Frank, Michele Paessler, Megan S. Lim, Eline T. Luning Prak, David C Fajgenbaum, Vinodh Pillai, Blood (ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts), 1/1/2018

Lectures

Frontiers in Medicine: Personalized Medicine
1/1/2019
MOD1 Genetics Case Presentations
1/1/2019
Overtime: Battling a deadly disease as a physician, researcher, patient, and entrepreneur
1/1/2019

Other

Unicentric Castleman disease
David C. Fajgenbaum, UpToDate
1/1/2018
HHV-8-associated multicentric Castleman disease
David C. Fajgenbaum, UpToDate
1/1/2018
HHV-8-negative/idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease
David C. Fajgenbaum, UpToDate
1/1/2018

Authored Content

I Was Read My Last Rites as a Third-Year Medical StudentNovember 2019
I Was Read My Last Rites as a Third-Year Medical StudentNovember 2019
UpToDate - idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease10/17/2018

Press Mentions

MacGyver in the Age of AI = Penn Medicine ScientistsApril 6th, 2026
Using Existing Drugs in New Ways to Treat & Cure Diseases of Brain & Body | Dr. David FajgenbaumNovember 3rd, 2025
The Next Big Think: Artificial Intelligence Arrives at Penn GastroenterologyOctober 7th, 2025

Grant Support

JAK1/2 as a Central Regulator of iMCD Pathogenesis and Novel Therapeutic TargetUNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA2018–2028
ACCELERATE: An Efficient and Innovative Natural History Study Addressing Unmet Needs in Castleman DiseaseUNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA2022–2026
ACCELERATE: An Efficient and Innovative Natural History Study Addressing Unmet Needs in Castleman DiseaseUNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA2022–2026
mTOR as a Central Regulator of iMCD Pathogenesis and Novel Therapeutic TargetNational Institutes of Health - NHLBI2018–2023