WiscMed Executive Team
James G. Berbee, MS, MBA, MD
Co-Founder & Chairman
Dr. Berbee is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison (Mechanical Engineering, Finance and Investment Banking). He worked as a systems engineer at IBM for four years before starting his IT company, Berbee Information Networks Corporation. Over the next 13 years, the company grew to 800 staff and more than $300 million in revenue. After selling Berbee to the public company CDW, he attended Stanford University where he obtained his medical degree. He completed an emergency medicine residency at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Hospital and Clinics. He currently works as a board-certified emergency physician in Wisconsin. His interest in otoscopy occurred because of frustration with the current technology available for the pediatric ear exam.
Dr. Berbee has been awarded the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award, the Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Achievement Award, the Ken Hendricks “Seize the Day” Award and the University of Wisconsin Distinguished Alumni Award. He and his wife, Karen Walsh, are active in their home state of Wisconsin. Their private foundation, The BerbeeWalsh Foundation, supports human health and wellness, healthy lifestyles and animal welfare.
Azita G. Hamedani, MD, MPH, MBA, FACEP
Co-Founder
Dr. Hamedani is a graduate of Yale College (Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry) and Yale University School of Medicine. She trained in emergency medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program (Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital). She also received her Masters in Public Health, with a focus on Health Care Administration & Policy, from the Yale University School of Public Health. More recently, she received her Masters in Business Administration through Kellogg School of Management Executive MBA program.
Dr. Hamedani returned to her home state of Wisconsin in 2006 to join the faculty at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health. She took on the role of Director of Quality for the Emergency Department before being named Chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine in 2009. Under Dr. Hamedani’s leadership the Division of Emergency Medicine launched multiple successful clinical, educational, and academic programs, culminating in the founding of the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine in 2014. Dr. Hamedani has served as the founding Chair of the department since then.
Dr. Hamedani has won numerous awards throughout her career, including Outstanding ED Medical Director of the Year Award, Service to Profession Award, and most recently, the Wisconsin American College of Emergency Physician’s Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Hamedani’s interest in WiscMed is rooted in a broader interest in disruptive innovation in health care as a means to improve patient care and decrease health care costs.
Gregory S. Rebella, MS, MD
Co-Founder
Dr. Greg Rebella received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health and completed a Pediatrics residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He returned to Wisconsin for fellowship training in Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) and joined the UW Department of Emergency Medicine in 2008 as one of the founding members of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine program and its director of pediatric education.
Dr. Rebella is a frequent lecturer on a wide range of pediatric conditions as well as being active in medical simulation and procedure training. An inventor at heart, he developed an award-winning abscess model as well as simulated skin used for teaching students and residents. A published author in teaching otoscopy skills to medical residents, Dr. Rebella was approached by Dr. Berbee to assist him in developing a device that would overcome the common problems encountered when evaluating young patients with ear complaints.
Dr. Rebella is a serial entrepreneur and inventor of Buddy Balls, an award-winning toy. They have been featured in numerous print and television spots and is sold in stores across the globe as well as making their way into the hands of thousands of sick and injured children cared for at the University of WI Children’s Hospital.
Harry Schutte
Vice President of Operations
Harry conceived the operational infrastructure, IT systems and customer service platform for WiscMed and has refined and developed these solutions to support the national launch of the Wispr digital otoscope. He was a key contributor in helping to create the WiscMed Customer Service team. Harry was also instrumental in bringing the Wispr digital otoscope to market by coordinating and managing all WiscMed partners and vendors throughout the development, pre-production and production phases.
Harry is an experienced operations executive, with decades of experience running large-scale global operations for iconic lifestyle brand retailers, Duluth Trading and Lands’ End.
He previously was Vice President of Operations at Duluth Trading Company, a work wear retail and direct-to-consumer company. At Duluth Trading, Harry was responsible for the creation of operational distribution centers and customer service capabilities that supported a rapidly growing internet business and the retail store expansion from 2 to 50 stores over his 4.5 years with the company.
Prior to Duluth Trading, Harry was SVP of Global Operations for Lands’ End. He spent 25 years helping Lands’ End grow warehousing and customer service both domestically and internationally in Japan, Germany and the UK.
Harry graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and received an MBA from Pepperdine University. He has served on the Executive Committee of The Parcel Shippers Association, a Washington DC trade organization that promotes competition in the parcel delivery market. Harry is a member of the local high school boys lacrosse Board of Directors and currently serves as the Board President.