‘One Foot in the Unknown’: epocrates Product Guru Michelle Berg Looks Ahead

Michelle Berg is a builder. During her two tenures at Hearst, first in an account management role and later as VP, product and technology for the publisher’s lifestyle brands, she strove to assemble products and infrastructures that were sustainable for both the immediate and the long-term futures. At Shoppable, she sought to effect similar growth within the expansive e-commerce space.

And now, as director, product management and head of a ten-strong team at epocrates, Berg has been charged with helping usher the venerable reference app – which continues to thrive some 27 years after its debut – into the future. It’s a heady responsibility and one that comes with its share of peril: Physicians don’t just rely on epocrates; they love it. There are few media brands, inside healthcare or out, that engender a similar degree of trust and respect.

Which is to say: Literally millions of users wouldn’t take too kindly to changes that drastically or even incrementally alter their engagement with epocrates. Berg, however, isn’t cowed by the prospect of a misstep.

“I’ve always been someone who will admit that there are plenty of things I don’t know,” she says. “Honestly, that’s where I’m most comfortable: One foot in the known, one foot in the unknown.”

Evolving roles and responsibilities

Growing up on Long Island, Berg wasn’t particularly career-focused. “I didn’t have anything resembling a real plan,” she admits. At the University of Maryland, she took classes in communication,...