TriageLogic’s CEO, Dr. Charu Raheja, recently joined host Donna Orender on the REfresh podcast to talk about bridging the gap between entrepreneurship, healthcare access, and resilience you can’t learn in the boardroom. Much of her interview focused on her own healthcare experiences — including the loss of her father from a heart attack and a stroke that almost left her permanently paralyzed — and how they have shaped her goals for telephone and telehealth nurse triage.
Charu was born in Belgium, raised in Brazil, and emigrated to the U.S. as a teenager. She described how education became both a passion and a pathway that led to a PhD and early success in academia. She cofounded TriageLogic with her husband, Ravi, after witnessing how he would often manage pediatric calls after hours that didn’t require a physician’s attention. This insight became the foundation of the model that TriageLogic uses today, where nurses work remotely using physician-supported protocols to deliver care guidance over the phone.
Losing her father to a sudden heart attack sharpened Charu’s conviction to help patients understand the severity of their symptoms, rather than risk brushing them off as something minor. During her discussion on REfresh, she highlighted how telephone nurse triage supports the rest of the healthcare continuum, from guided intake and accurate message capture to clinical decision support and documentation. It can meet patient needs that fall outside a typical telemedicine visit, including urgent mental health situations.
Charu also shared her own life-altering crisis when she experienced a brain AVM bleed that led to surgery, temporary paralysis, memory loss, and the difficult process of relearning English. More than a comeback story, she noted how this experience reshaped her perspective on leadership, from becoming more compassionate and focused on purpose, as well as clear-minded about what choices deserve a “yes” versus a “no.”
Ultimately, Charu’s message to Donna was about agency: defining your framework, thinking boldly, and refusing to limit yourself in your pursuits.
Check out the full podcast episode below.