Time Magazine and Time for Kids have chosen their Child of the Year 2024 – and it is Heman Bekele, a teenager who could change the way skin cancer is treated.
Bekele, of Fairfax, Virginia, is being honored for developing an affordable bar of soap that could facilitate the administration of drugs to treat skin cancer, including melanoma.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, melanoma is the most invasive type of skin cancer with the highest risk of death. However, if detected early, it is highly curable.
“It’s absolutely incredible to think that my bar of soap will one day have a direct impact on someone else’s life,” the 15-year-old told Time. “That’s why I started all this in the first place.”
Bekele’s passion for science began at a young age. He conducted his first scientific experiment at the age of four, mixing all the household products he could get his hands on and seeing what happened. At the age of six, he moved on to a chemistry set. A few years ago, he decided to study skin cancer.
According to Time, one of Bekele’s earliest memories is of seeing workers in Ethiopia, where Bekele was born, working without heat protection in scorching heat. After emigrating to the United States, the young scientist realized what a “big problem the sun and ultraviolet radiation are when you’re exposed to them for long periods of time.”
Then Bekele learned about imiquimod, a cream-based drug that can destroy tumors. While the drug is effective, it can be expensive and is often prescribed as part of a treatment plan that can cost $40,000. The retail price of imiquimod can be as high as $180 without insurance and is even more expensive in Ethiopia.
Bekele realized that a bar of soap could be an effective, easily accessible and cost-effective way to administer the drug.
To put this idea into practice, Bekele applied for and won 3M’s Young Scientist Challenge in 2023, securing $25,000 and the title of “America’s Best Young Scientist.” With the help of Johns Hopkins professor and molecular biologist Vito Rebecca, Bekele tested the soap on lab mice in the university’s lab for nearly half a year.
“(His idea) immediately caught my interest because I thought how cool that he wanted to make it available to the whole world,” Rebecca told Time.
The soap still has a long way to go: testing, patenting and FDA approval could take a decade. But even then, Bekele will only be 25. Most medical students don’t graduate until they’re 28.
Bekele is only a sophomore at Woodson High School in Fairfax this year, but he is still incredibly humble.
“Anyone could do what I did,” Bekele said. “I just had an idea. I worked toward that idea and was able to bring it to life.”
