At barely more than seven years old, Heman Bekele began a course of scientific inquiry that would one day make him a prolific innovator. At the time, he was whipping up his own chemistry concoctions, mixing dish soap and laundry detergent. “I’d put them under my bed and see what would happen in the morning,” he said. “There was a lot of mixing together completely at random.”

His early experiments turned a corner when he got a chemistry set for Christmas, including sodium hydroxide. Having read about chemical reactions, he found that aluminum was such a metal that reacts with sodium hydroxide to produce much heat and turned his attention to it as a possible answer to the energy problem. That nearly caused a fire.

Now, with a deep understanding of the value of supervision, Heman, now 15, had become a regular for the scientific community. In October, he was declared Young Scientist of the Year by 3M and Discovery Education, winning a $25,000 prize. His mind-blowing invention: a soap potentially capable of treating and preventing several types of skin cancer. Though this may take years to fructify with the revolutionary product, Heman is already sacrificing his summer for research at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. He juggles school work with lab time.

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and moving to the U.S. at the age of four, Heman’s early exposure to the harsh effects from sun exposure instilled in him a deep concern for skin health. His parents taught him to be aware of sunscreen and protective clothing—lessons he carried to America. That kind of awareness planted a seed in his mind about ways of making treatment for skin cancer more accessible.

The idea Heman had was to incorporate the skin cancer drug imiquimod into a bar of soap, so it would be more accessible and affordable for many more people. He realized that although imiquimod is a fantastic drug, these current methods of delivery are associated with a very high cost. In this way, he wanted to obtain a product that would convey therapeutic benefits, even after the soap had been rinsed off, by combining the drug with a lipid-based nanoparticle in soap.

In 2023, Heman entered his bright idea in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, which he entered and became a finalist, earning him an invitation to pitch his idea in St. Paul, Minnesota. He won the challenge, which provided him with the funding necessary to further his research. He quickly called Vito Rebecca, a molecular biologist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins.

For almost six months now, Heman and Rebecca have been conducting some rudimentary experiments on mice to see how their imiquimod-infused soap fared against strains of skin cancer. Though still at an early stage, Heman seems undeterred in his enthusiasm for how far-reaching this work can be. The journey ahead entails an infinite amount of testing, patenting, and FDA approval that could take the best part of ten years. If all this is taken into consideration, it really does show the remarkable amount of dedication and progress he has shown for a young man of his age.

Apart from his research, Heman has presented his vision before larger audiences such as the one before 8,000 attendees at the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists in Boston. He has various other interests, including playing in the high school marching band, basketball, reading, and chess.

Heman credits much of this success to his parents, a teacher named Muluemebet and Wondwossen, a human-resources specialist. Coupled with this sacrifice was the zeal they had towards his education, so it has been a motivating thing towards the desired goals. His mentor, Deborah Isabelle from 3M, is also very instrumental in his journey, guiding him and giving needed help.

Further, Heman does not boast about the works, saying that everybody else could do the same or even more with dedication and innovation. “We shall never run out of ideas in this world, just keep inventing and improving our world,” he says.

The story of Heman Bekele demonstrates young ingenuity and potent youthful potential for meaningful change. It is an illustration of how early passions can be transformed into impactful contributions toward science and society.