BRPC's Public Health Program Announces Recent Hires

11:48AM / Thursday, April 25, 2024Print Story | Email Story

Matthew Bryan, Monasia Ceasar, Daniel Hassett, Sophie Carnes Jannen and Nikki Lewis

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) announced the expansion of its Public Health Program through the recent hiring of staff members Matthew Bryan, Monasia Ceasar, Daniel Hassett, Sophie Carnes Jannen, Nikki Lewis, and Jazu Stine.

The BRPC Public Health Program supports Berkshire County and its municipalities in areas including emergency preparedness and response, substance use prevention and harm reduction, community health planning and education, climate resilience, and infectious and chronic disease prevention.

BRPC also provides public health inspectional services and public health nursing to municipalities through the Berkshire Public Health Alliance, applied local public health training through the Berkshire-Hampden Training Hub, and supports the local boards of health through Berkshire County Boards of Health Association (BCBOHA).

Matthew Bryan

Matthew Bryan has joined BRPC as a senior planner in the Public Health Program. He holds a BS in Behavioral Neuroscience, a BA in German, and recently acquired a master's in public health, with a concentration in Rural Health. With previous experience in infectious disease field epidemiology, toxic hazards epidemiology, and state-wide Public Health Emergency Response planning, Matthew now manages BRPC's Emergency Preparedness and Healthy Aging projects and will manage the Berkshire and Franklin County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) starting in FY 25.

Monasia Ceasar

Monasia Ceasar works as a public health trainer for the Berkshire-Hampden Training Hub hosted by BRPC. In this role, Monasia facilitates training efforts for Hampden County communities in accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's workforce standards. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental science and a master's degree in public health from the University of Bridgeport and is a Registered Sanitarian (RS).

Daniel Hassett

Daniel Hassett is the Public Health Housing Specialist within the Berkshire Public Health Alliance. Thanks to a state Public Health Excellence (PHE) grant, Hassett is available to Berkshire Public Health Alliance member municipalities for assistance in conducting environmental health inspections and enforcing the housing code and local regulations. He also helps to administer the Berkshire Country Board of Health Association septic installer certification program and assists with the Berkshire-Hampden Training Hub. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology with a chemistry minor from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and is currently pursuing his designation as a Registered Sanitarian.

Sophie Carnes Jannen

Sophie Carnes Jannen is a public health nurse educator at BRPC. She holds bachelor's degrees in psychology and nursing and a master's degree in nursing. As a nurse, Sophie has worked in community health, with experience in mobile health and harm reduction. She has also taught health and nursing classes at the college level. In her current position, Sophie will assist in county-wide health promotion through local education and wellness programs.

Nikki Lewis

Nikki Lewis has been hired as a senior planner at BRPC. Lewis holds a bachelor's degree in health science and a Master of Public Health degree in biostatistics and epidemiology. For the past five years, she's worked with community coalitions on substance use initiatives, including in her previous role as the Community Data Manager for the HEALing Communities Study in Pittsfield and North Adams. In her current role, Lewis co-manages substance use initiatives, including grants focused on youth substance use prevention and overdose prevention and cofacilitates the Berkshire Overdose Addiction Prevention Collaborative (BOAPC).

Jazu Stine

Jazu Stine recently joined BRPC as a Public Health Food Specialist, Inspector, and ServSafe instructor. In addition to providing health inspections to Berkshire Public Health Alliance member municipalities, Jazu will concentrate on food safety training with the Berkshire-Hampden Training Hub. With 15+ years in the restaurant and food service/retail industry, he brings a wide range of food handling experience. He previously owned a small, regionally sourced, whole-animal butcher shop that was USDA-inspected and State Certified for restaurant wholesale. He has spent most of his life educating, from home building to studio arts. As a food specialist, he has taught topics including knife skills, cooking techniques, charcuterie production, and whole animal processing, always prioritizing safety and the pursuit of knowledge.

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Pittsfield Health Board Upholds Berkshire Pipe License Revocation

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:21PM / Thursday, January 08, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city has lost another tobacco permit, and Berkshire Pipe and Tobacco was advised to find a different product to sell.

On Wednesday, the Board of Health reaffirmed its Dec. 3 decision to revoke the 17-year-old business's tobacco license, which has been suspended since March. While the shop owners were apologetic, the board upheld its decision because of repeated violations and a citation from the Department of Revenue for untaxed tobacco products.

"Unfortunately, you're in a situation where, having been given a number of chances to get off suspension, get off fines, you've gotten to the point where you're selling an unlicensed product in our city, despite the fact that you shouldn't have anything on site, you actually have stuff that's illegal in the state so I can't think of any other way we can deal with this, other than to leave it as a revocation," board member Dr. Jeffrey Leppo said.

"Otherwise, we might as well just simply say any store could do this, and there's no consequence. And we're not about to say that."

No new applications are being accepted for tobacco permits in Pittsfield, meaning that when a permit is revoked, it goes away. The tobacco permit for Gulf Food Mart on Wahconah Street was revoked last year.

Director of Public Health Andy Cambi reported that an August inspection by the DOR found untaxed products on site while the tobacco license was suspended. If not revoked, it would have been up for renewal on Dec. 11.

"My sense is that we have given this establishment enough opportunities to go through their inventory to make sure they don't have tobacco products. We have gone out and done multiple inspections where there have been times that we have not found any tobacco products, there have been times that we have found tobacco products," he said.

Store representative Nipun Saluja reported that the store passed inspection in May and June and provided the board with a letter, which was not read aloud. He said the store was initially given a one-month suspension that turned into a 10-month suspension.

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