Charbel Daniel, CEO of Northwood, joins Sunny Ray to trace the path from a childhood shaped by his Lebanese immigrant parents' grit, a wartime evacuation from Beirut, and a boyhood dream of becoming a NASA astronaut, to a career spent redesigning how healthcare systems operate. After choosing family over an astrophysics path, Daniel earned a physics degree at Dalhousie, then became a frontline paramedic, where he froze on his very first call before building a decade-long career in emergency care and education. He went on to run operations for 1,200 clinicians across New England as COO of Med Life, then led provincial EMS in Nova Scotia through COVID, reshaping response models under crisis pressure. Daniel explains how first principles thinking, borrowed from physics, became his leadership philosophy: understand the real problem before jumping to solutions, since most organizational pain points are realities to support rather than problems to fix. The conversation closes with his current work at Northwood exploring how AI, sensors, and robotics can support independent living for seniors without displacing the humanized care at the center of dignified aging.
A physics major turned paramedic explains why understanding the problem matters more than rushing the fix.
You were born in Nova Scotia to parents who fled Lebanon in the late 60s. What do you remember most about how they built a life here from nothing?
Grit is the word that sums it up. When you leave a country with nothing left to lose, you need grit, persistence, and commitment. My parents actually moved back to Lebanon hoping things would resolve, and I was born there, but war broke out again in the mid to late 80s. Some of my earliest memories are being in a bomb shelter and fleeing by boat to Cyprus before we came back to Canada for good.
How did that dual culture upbringing shape the way you see the world today?
It made me more grateful for what we have here. Not everyone realizes how blessed we are with the amenities, infrastructure, and dignified choices available to us that aren't common in places like Lebanon. I look at our aging population and see it as an opportunity and a blessing, not a problem, and I try to instill that same gratitude in my own kids.
As a kid you wanted to be a NASA astronaut. Where did that obsession come from?
My parents gave me a telescope one Christmas, and once I set it up and started looking at space, I became obsessed with the universe and stars. Star Trek was taking off around the same time, and I loved the idea that humanity was working together rather than against each other. I eventually chose family and the person I love over that ambition, but I have no regrets.
What pulled you towards a physics degree at Dalhousie?
It was my dream to work at NASA or do something in astronomy, so physics was the natural path. My relationship with my now wife had already started by then, and I finished the degree before pivoting toward a different future once we decided our life together would be built around staying close to family.
What was your first real call like as a paramedic?
I froze. My preceptor let me take lead on what seemed like a minor call, a 12 year old who had fallen off their bike, and I just stood there staring at the patient, unable to move. My preceptor eventually stepped in. Everything they did I knew how to do, I just couldn't overcome that barrier of taking action. It went a lot better after that.
When did you realize you weren't going to be a medic forever and that leadership was your real game?
Fairly quickly, honestly. I never realized how little I could stomach the gore and the difficult situations frontline providers face. I have massive respect for healthcare workers because I know firsthand how hard it is, and that experience taught me it's critical to make sure those team members have the resources and support they need for a long, healthy career.
What did running operations for 1,200 clinicians in New England teach you that the ambulance never could?
I took the lessons from the ambulance straight into that leadership role because I knew what the front line felt like firsthand rather than imagining it. It shaped how I supported the team, in ways I felt I wasn't always supported. A lot of what we call problems aren't problems, they're realities that need support rather than fixes.
When the pandemic hit while you were running provincial EMS for Nova Scotia, what broke in your brain that changed how you lead?
Everything shifted because the workforce providing care was also getting hit by COVID and at constant risk of exposure. We realized we were essentially sending SWAT teams, two paramedics and an ambulance, to every call regardless of urgency. That pushed us to build virtual care teams and other pathways for less urgent calls, which ultimately created a better experience for patients.
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