Fourteen-year-old Herman Bekele from Virginia was named America’s Top Young Scientist for creating a soap that could cure skin cancer.
He beat out nine other finalists and received a well-deserved award. At the awards ceremony the teenager said, quotes CNN Greece:
“Cure cancer with a bar of soap! I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to present my ideas.”
The student “created” soap from compounds that can reactivate dendritic cells that protect human skin, allowing them to fight cancer cells. The 14-year-old’s unique discovery was inspired by the idea of Ethiopia, where he lived until he was four years old. He told the Washington Post that he saw people working in the hot sun and wanted to do something to help them:
“I wanted my idea to not only be scientifically great, but also to be accessible to as many people as possible.”
Data from the American Cancer Society shows that skin cancer is the most common of all types. Although melanoma accounts for only 1% of all cases, it is responsible for the majority of deaths from skin cancer. The incidence of melanoma has increased rapidly in recent decades, especially among women over 50, and it is more than 20 times more common in white people than in dark-skinned people.
Bekele told the jury that awarded him the award that he hopes to make the soap “a symbol of hope and accessibility in a world where skin cancer treatment is available to everyone.”
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