Heman Bekele, a 15-year-old boy hailing from Ethiopia, has been honored by Time Magazine for creating a soap that could possibly treat and cure skin cancer. The outlet reported how Bekele noticed how the sun effected people’s skin and how they often worked in the sun without properly protecting themselves.
His family later immigrated to the United States when he was seven and gifted him a chemistry set for Christmas. The set included sodium hydroxide, which sparked Bekele’s interest in science. His observation of how the sun affected folks around him only grew.
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“When I was younger, I didn’t think much of it, but when I came to America, I realized what a big problem the sun and ultraviolet radiation is when you’re exposed to it for a long time,” Bekele explained to Time.
“I’m really passionate about skin cancer research,” he continued. “Whether it’s my own research or what’s happening in the field.” Bekele ultimately learned about imiquimod and how it was already approved to treat certain forms of skin cancer.
Bekele eventually remembered his years in his native country and wondered if imiquimod was available to people regardless of their socio-economic status. “Almost everyone uses soap and water for cleaning. So soap would probably be the best option,” Bekele stated about why he decided to make soap.
Last year, the teenager won Discovery Education’s Young Scientist Challenge and received $25,000 for the potential of his idea. Bekele currently attends Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Va. When he’s not in class, he conducts his research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
The Time article also revealed that the teen has around a decade to go before the soap could be approved as a cancer treatment.
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