Dr. Mark Pettus Joins Primary Care Team At Hillcrest Family Health

Print Story | Email Story
PITTSFIELD, Mass. - Berkshire Health Systems announces the appointment of Mark C. Pettus, MD, a board certified Internal Medicine physician with over 20 years of experience to the physician staff of Hillcrest Family Health. Dr. Pettus is providing integrative holistic primary care, or what's called personalized medicine, and is teamed at Hillcrest Family Health with Christopher Trancynger, MD, Rebecca Caine, MD, and Muhammad Gul, MD.

"Personalized medicine is a young but rapidly advancing field of healthcare that is informed by each person's unique clinical, genomic, and environmental information," said Dr. Pettus. "Because these factors are different for every person, the nature of diseases-including their onset, their course, and how they might respond to drugs or other interventions-is as individual as the people who have them."

Dr. Pettus has a long history of service in the Berkshires, dating to 1988 when he first joined the medical staff of Berkshire Medical Center. He has previously served as Chief of Staff, associate chair of the Department of Medicine and director of ambulatory medical education for the Internal Medicine Residency program at BMC.

Dr. Pettus received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed his residency training at Harvard Medical School. He was fellowship trained in Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the author of two books, The Savvy Patient: The Ultimate Advocate for Quality Health Care and It's All in Your Head: Change Your Mind, Change Your Health.

For an appointment with Dr. Pettus or one of his colleagues at Hillcrest Family Health, call 413-499-2051.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Possible Measles Exposure at Boston, Logan

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health confirmed Wednesday that an out-of-state adult visitor who spent time in Boston and Westborough earlier this month was diagnosed with measles and was present in a number of locations.
 
This could have resulted in other people being exposed to measles virus.
 
The visitor arrived at Logan International Airport on American Airlines flight 2384 from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 11 at 2:39 p.m. They stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Boston-Westborough in Westborough and departed the state on Dec. 12 via Logan at 9:19 p.m. on JetBlue flight 117 to Las Vegas.
 
DPH is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local partners to identify and notify those who may have been exposed to measles from this individual.
 
"Measles is a highly contagious, airborne disease, which has increased significantly in the United States because of the unfortunate decrease in vaccination rates. It is also a preventable disease," said Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein. "This current situation serves as an important reminder of the critical role vaccination plays in protecting our communities. While Massachusetts has not had a measles case this year, 2025 saw the highest number of nationwide cases in more than a decade — nearly 2,000 in 44 jurisdictions, and sadly, three deaths. 
 
"Fifteen years ago, measles had been considered eliminated in the United States, but that tremendous progress is at risk. Vaccines are one of the most important public health interventions ever — they are safe, effective, and lifesaving."
 
Measles is very contagious. However, the risk to most people in Massachusetts is low because the vaccination rate in the state is high. People who are not immune and visited any of the locations on the following dates and times may be at risk for developing measles.
 
View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories