Teen who created soap to treat skin cancer named Time’s Kid of the Year

Time magazine is honoring a scientist who created a bar of soap that has the potential to transform skin cancer treatment — while he still found time to be part of his school’s marching band. Fifteen-year-old scientist Heman Bekele from Fairfax, Virginia has been named Time’s 2024 Kid of the Year.

Time put Bekele on its cover to recognize him for “developing an affordable compound-based bar of soap that could in the future be a new and more accessible way to deliver medication to treat skin cancers, including melanoma.”

In 2023, the teen was named America’s Top Young Scientist by 3M and Discovery Education for his invention. Along with the title, Bekele won $25,000.

He is spending weekdays this summer working in the lab at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Bekele told Time he is passionate about skin cancer research and finds it incredible that one day his bar of soap will be able to make a direct impact on somebody else’s life.

“I personally hope one day that skin cancer treating soap can turn into a more not-for-profit organization where we really can distribute it to people that need it the most,” Bekele said.

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