Time magazine and Time for Kids has chosen its 2024 Kid of the Year — and it's Heman Bekele, a teenager who could change the way skin cancer is treated.
Bekele, from Fairfax, Virginia, is being recognized for developing an affordable bar of soap that could make delivering medications for skin cancers, including melanoma, more accessible.
Melanoma is the most invasive type of skin cancer with the highest risk of death, according to Cleveland Clinic. However, it is highly curable, if caught early.
"It’s absolutely incredible to think that one day, my bar of soap will be able to make a direct impact on somebody else’s life," the 15-year-old told Time. "That’s the reason I started this all in the first place.”
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Bekele's passion for science started at an early age. He conducted his first science experiment when he was just 4 years old, mixing together any household products he could get his hands on and seeing what would happen. He advanced to a chemistry set when he was 6. A few years ago, he decided to tackle skin cancer.
Some of Bekele's earliest memories were of seeing laborers work under the searing heat with no heat protection in Ethiopia, where Bekele was born, according to Time. After emigrating to the U.S., the young scientist said he realized what a "big problem the sun and ultraviolet radiation is when you’re exposed to it for a long time."
Then, Bekele learned about imiquimod, a cream-based drug that can help destroy tumors. While effective, the drug can be expensive, often being prescribed as part of a treatment plan that can cost $40,000. Imiquimod's retail price can go up to $180 without insurance, and is even more expensive in Ethiopia.
Bekele realized a bar of soap could be an effective, accessible and cost-saving delivery system for the drug.
To turn this idea into reality, Bekele applied to — and won — 3M's Young Scientist Challenge in 2023, securing $25,000 and the title of "America’s Top Young Scientist." With the help of Johns Hopkins professor and molecular biologist Vito Rebecca, Bekele has been testing the soap on lab mice at the university's lab for almost half a year.
"[His idea] immediately piqued my interest, because I thought, how cool, him wanting to make it accessible to the whole world," Rebecca said to Time.
The soap still has a long way to go: Testing, patenting it and getting FDA certification could take a decade. But even then, Bekele will only be 25 years old. Most medical school students don't graduate until they are 28.
Bekele is only going into his sophomore year at Woodson High School in Fairfax this year. Still, he is incredibly humble.
"Anybody could do what I did," Bekele said. “I just came up with an idea. I worked towards that idea, and I was able to bring it to life.”
