“What you’re not changing you’re choosing.”
Kareem Sadek
TOP 30 UNDER 30 HONOUREE | 2026
About
PROFILE SNAPSHOT
AGE: 25
PRONOUNS: He/Him
HOMETOWN: Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
ORGANIZATIONS:
-
- Futures in Focus (Founder)
- Orbis Canada (Director of Program Development and Coordination)
- Calgary Student Run Clinic (Student Clinician), Shad Western (Program Director)
- Futures in Focus (Founder)
GLOBAL IMPACT FOCUS (SDGs)
I am most passionate about:
What specific issue(s) are you working to address, and what motivates you to do so?
I address inequities in early health screening and community-led health education, focusing on children in remote and underserved areas. I am motivated by witnessing how preventable issues, such as undetected vision problems or unclear care pathways, can quietly undermine learning, confidence, and long-term opportunities. I have learned that true access depends not only on the availability of services, but also on whether people trust and understand them, which leads to effective follow-through.
My work in Fort McKay demonstrates this approach. Before launching Futures in Focus, I led Summers of Science, an engaging STEAM summer camp designed to build relationships and foster meaningful community engagement. This experience taught me that connection is foundational. Trust is earned through presence, active listening, and reliability rather than polished ideas.
This groundwork established the foundation for Futures in Focus, a semi-annual program co-designed with the Fort McKay Health and Wellness Centre and Elsie Fabian School. The program integrates vision and health screening with STEAM activities and is shaped by community input. The most important impact occurs after the screening day, through clear referral pathways and follow-through to ensure positive screens lead to assessment and support.
This work aligns closely with SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by promoting early screening, access pathways, and community-based care. It also supports SDG 4 (Quality Education), as improved vision and health directly enhance a child’s ability to participate and succeed in school.
What are the ways in which you curate connection?
I prioritize meaningful connection through my work at Shad Western, where I have spent five years engaging high school students and fostering genuine ownership of their learning. As Program Director, I designed and led the Vision Advocacy and Awareness Expo, a large-scale event that brought students together with vision-related stakeholders and a panel of individuals sharing their lived experiences. I intentionally centered the Expo on the perspectives of those with blindness or partial sight, rather than on assumptions from students or organizations. This involved inviting panellists early, carefully vetting questions, using respectful language, and adapting the event structure to reflect their input. Our partners included Orbis, CNIB, W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind, Canadian Council of the Blind, 20/20 Mission, Parkwood Institute, and Sensity.
I then transformed connection into sustained action by establishing and leading Shad Western’s first Charity Committee in support of Orbis Canada. Students organized a month-long campaign featuring events such as an Open Day fundraising event and a silent auction, engaging families and supporters in our mission. Together, we raised over $8,600. I strive to provide structure and momentum while ensuring decisions remain centered on those most affected. My approach shifted after hearing panellists describe how certain terminology and well-intentioned messaging about blindness and visual impairment can still be stigmatizing or inaccurate. Their feedback moved my focus from raising awareness to prioritizing dignity and representation, making me more intentional about who defines our work and how we ensure accountability.
What role will connection play in your future work?
Connection will be central to my work as I train to become a physician. In development work, connection builds trust, clarifies needs, and ensures care is practical. As a future physician, I aim to partner with patients and families so that care plans address barriers such as transportation, childcare, language, cost, and prior experiences with the health system. I will also collaborate with community organizations that already have trust and insight, rather than expecting patients to navigate complex systems alone.
Through Futures in Focus in Fort McKay, I saw that connection is essential: screening is effective only when families feel safe participating, and there is a clear referral pathway with follow-up. This experience showed me that lasting impact requires closing the loop and remaining accountable to the community, rather than providing a one-time service.
To create meaningful, lasting change, connections must be long-term and reciprocal. Communities, clinicians, and partners need shared decision-making, clear roles, and practical structures such as referral workflows, regular debriefs, and feedback loops to support ongoing improvement. Centering lived experience in advocacy taught me that even well-intentioned messaging can fall short if not guided by those most affected. Listening to feedback shifted my focus from awareness to dignity, representation, and shared ownership.
More Top 30s from 2025
