Lanyue Fu, left, Inaaya Ahamed and Zaynab Kazi, students at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, react as their team’s video is introduced. The students recorded short videos highlighting the importance of equipment they were seeking to raise funds for.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Inaaya Ahamed helped Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital get a new piece of vital health care equipment last week – not bad for Grade 9 student.
In fact, Inaaya and classmates from nearby Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, all of them sharing an interest in the health sciences, and many of them in the SheSTEM program, which encourages female students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math, helped the hospital secure several pieces of much-needed equipment through a Dragons’ Den-inspired twist on fundraising.
The Vital Venture Fund 2026 initiative saw students paired with Michael Garron clinicians, who worked with them to understand equipment the hospital needs: vascular ultrasound machines, a video laryngoscope and a dual-focus gastroscope, among others.
The students then made 90-second videos highlighting the importance of the equipment and why different pieces should receive funding. These were posted on the website of the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation, and the ones with the most votes received funding from the Moez and Marissa Kassam Equity Fund.
“We see the success of Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den. This is our own mini version for the people of Toronto east,” said Moez Kassam, co-founder of Anson Funds, an alternative asset management company.
Melanie Kohn, president and chief executive officer of Michael Garron Hospital, said it’s a way of engaging with and inspiring “the minds of the future.”
Foundations, which provide financial support, are crucial for helping ensure that hospitals can deliver care, Ms. Kohn said. The Vital Venture Fund initiative gave students a chance to see what needs hospitals have and how to help meet them.
“Not only do they actually get to learn, but they get to be part of prioritizing what we need for the hospital in a very practical way,” she said.
The winning team of students pose with Marissa and Moez Kassam.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
The project was an opportunity for students with an interest in health sciences to get out of the classroom and learn first-hand from experts in their fields, said Gillian Evans, principal of Marc Garneau Collegiate.
“Anything that gives the kids opportunities to see the world beyond the school and meet and interact with people who are doing amazing things is a great win for the school,” she said.
For Elizabeth Soutchanski, a Grade 12 student and president of the school’s chapter of HOSA Canada, a health-sciences student organization, the project was a chance to work with a clinician and gain a better understanding of the inner workings of a hospital – an invaluable experience for someone like her who wants to be a physician.
“It’s a way for me to connect with medicine and the field of medicine, which I really hope to be able to work in one day. So, I just jumped at the opportunity,” she said.
Lovely Gebeyehu, a Grade 11 student who worked on pitching a device that keeps newborn babies warm and another that helps open their airways when they are blocked, was drawn to the project as a way to connect with the community.
After all, the people voting on the videos were most likely people in the area, and the hospital would be using the equipment to care for residents like them.
“I felt like if I could work on the project in some way or form, I’m giving back in some way, which is pretty unique, in my opinion,” she said.
Fostering community bonds was a central goal of the project, Mr. Kassam said.
“The idea for us is to invest in the community, and getting engagement at an early level is so important,” he said.
Inaaya Ahamed, the Grade 9 student, wants to pursue a career in health sciences for a simple reason.
“It’s helping people and knowing that one person can save so many lives and make such a big difference,” she said.
Working on this project, she said, made that goal seem all the more real.