Heman Bekele , 15, has just been named “Kid of the Year” by Time magazine for 2024 for inventing a soap that treats skin cancer . While the average cost of a skin cancer treatment is around $40,000, Bekele’s soap costs just $0.50, making it much more accessible to everyone.

Thanks to his invention, Heman Bekele became the winner of the “Young Scientist Competition”, receiving a prize worth $25,000 last year. Bekele has shown a passion for science since he was 4 years old. As a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, Bekele would mix anything he could find around the house and observe what kind of reaction it would cause.

“I used to secretly mix dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, and common chemicals… into a mixture. Then, I would hide them under the bed and see what would happen after one night.” However, everything at that time was just a random mix.

It wasn’t until the Christmas before his seventh 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day that his parents gave him a chemistry set that came with a sample of sodium hydroxide. At the time, Bekele was just starting to learn about chemical reactions, and when he learned that aluminum and sodium hydroxide reacted together, they could create a huge amount of heat. That made Bekele think he could do something good for the world. But as a result, “I almost started a fire.” After that, his parents kept a closer eye on him.

Heman Bekele was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before immigrating to the United States at age 4. Bekele recalls that one of his earliest memories is of laborers working under the harsh sun without any protection. His parents taught Bekele and his sisters how to cover up and explained the dangers of being outside for too long without sunscreen or appropriate protective clothing.

But as a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, Bekele didn’t pay much attention. “It wasn’t until I came to America that I realized how much the sun and ultraviolet rays could do to people when exposed for a long period of time.” Then Bekelelearned about imiquimod, a cream approved to treat skin cancer and 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 tumors. Although effective, the drug is sold as a prescription drug in a very expensive treatment regimen for skin cancer, with an average price of $40,000. So many people in Ethiopia would not have easy access. That’s when he started looking for an alternative for patients in the early stages of the disease. And the idea of ​​a cheap bar of soap was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧.

“Almost everyone uses soap and water for hygiene, it’s a necessity. So soap is the best choice,” Heman Bekele recalled thinking.

To make this idea a reality, Bekele applied to participate in a competition organized by 3M and Discovery Education in 2023. Bekele submitted a video explaining his idea. Soon after, Bekele was invited to the company’s headquarters in St. Paul to present to a panel of judges. As a result, Bekele became the winner and received a prize of $ 25,000.

While the money has helped Bekele pursue his project, he still needs a dedicated lab to conduct his research. That opportunity came in February, when he attended a networking event in Washington, DC, and met Vito Rebecca, a molecular biologist and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University. Rebecca agreed to support Heman’s project and let him use her Baltimore lab to study the soap.

For nearly half a year now, Heman and Rebecca have been conducting basic research on mice that have been injected with strains of skin cancer. But Bekele still has a long way to go. It could take up to 10 years for the soap to be approved by the FDA, and even then, Bekele is only 25 years old.