Ethiopian-American Teen Heman Bekele Named TIME’s Kid of the Year for Skin Cancer Innovation

Heman Bekele’s journey from a curious young boy to TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year began with a simple love of asking questions. “Before I can remember, I’ve always had such a huge love for knowing things around the world and being curious,” Heman told John Yang on PBS NewsHour. “That curiosity grew into my love and passion for science, and slowly, it progressed into creating this bar of soap.”

At just 15, Heman has spent the past year developing a groundbreaking bar of soap that could treat the early stages of skin cancer. His project won him the 2023 Young Scientist Challenge, a middle school science competition, that features outstanding innovations from young scientists that demonstrate the power of science to improve the world hosted by 3M and Discovery Education. This recognition came with a $25,000 prize, most of which Heman is reinvesting into his project, with the remainder supporting his education.

The soap, known as SCTS (Skin Cancer Treating Soap), is a compound-based formula infused with cancer-fighting chemicals. One key ingredient, Imidazoquinolines, is wrapped in a lipid-based nanoparticle. According to Heman, while the soap’s suds wash away, the medicinal components remain on the skin to continue their work. His goal wasn’t just to fight skin cancer but to create an accessible, affordable treatment for it.

This innovative approach to treating skin cancer—usually tackled through traditional methods or surgery—earned him the title of TIME’s Kid of the Year for 2024. “I’m really passionate about skin-cancer research,” Heman told TIME Magazine. “Whether it’s my own research or what’s happening in the field, 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. That’s the reason I started this all in the first place.”

Born in Addis Ababa, Heman’s inspiration for the soap came from watching people work under the harsh sun. At the age of 4, he moved to the United States with his family, but those early memories stayed with him. Reflecting on his experience, Heman noted that while he didn’t think much of the sun’s impact as a child, moving to America made him realise how serious the problem of prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiation is.

He recalls, “Growing up in Ethiopia, I always thought people were always getting hit by the hot sun working outside. I didn’t think much of it when I was really little, but as I grew up I realised how big of an issue [skin cancer] really is. Not only in Ethiopia but everywhere around the world.”

The staggering costs of skin cancer treatment further fueled his determination to find a solution: “And when [people] do end up getting skin cancer, it’s crazy expensive [to treat] and not affordable in the slightest. Skin cancer does have cures and skin cancer is treatable in most cases. However, the average price of skin cancer treatment globally is almost $40,000. When I heard those really shocking statistics it really inspired me to create a more affordable and accessible solution… ”

Heman hopes to bring the SCTS to the market by 2028 and make skin cancer treatment affordable. To turn this vision into reality, he dedicates part of his weekdays to working in a lab at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Watch Heman Bekele explain more details about the soap: