Heman Bekele

What they built

Developed Melanoma Treating Soap (MTS) at age 14 — a compound-based bar of soap engineered to deliver cancer-fighting drug compounds transdermally to treat skin cancer. Motivated by childhood memories from Ethiopia of people working under intense sun and by the stark disparity in skin cancer survival rates between Sub-Saharan Africa and wealthier nations. The soap is designed to be low-cost and accessible globally, with ongoing preclinical trials in collaboration with Georgetown University.

Verified track record

• USA Today — "14-year-old Virginia boy named 'America's Top Young Scientist'" (Oct 23, 2023) (source)
• TIME — "Heman Bekele Is TIME's 2024 Kid of the Year" (2024) (source)
• 3M Young Scientist Lab — 2023 Winner profile (source)
• Wikipedia — Heman Bekele bio (source)
• Fairfax County Public Schools — "'America's Top Young Scientist' Heman Bekele Was Born in Ethiopia, Educated by FCPS" (Oct 19, 2023) (source)
• Georgetown University ISM — Summer research feature (2024) (source)
• National Nanotechnology Initiative — profile (Dec 2024) (source)