ANNANDALE, Va. — We are celebrating a local high school student from Virginia who was just named America's top young scientist for developing a soap that fights skin cancer.
Hemen Bekele is a freshman at W.T. Woodson High School, but he started the National 3M Young Scientist Competition as an 8th grader in at Frost Middle School. The challenge invites students to identify an everyday problem in their community, or the world, and submit a video explaining their solution.
Hemen combined salicylic acid, glycolic acid and tretinoin to produce skin-cancer-treating soap. The soap helps to protect the skin and enhance immune responses to fight skin cancer. Hemen cited the high price of other treatments which can total tens of thousands of dollars vs. the cost of a bar of his soap for 50 cents.
"Imagine a world where skin cancer treatment isn't a privilege for a few but a right for all. Our soap has the potential to reach corners of the globe where skin cancer treatment has been out of reach for far too long," the young scientist said in a YouTube video explaining his soap.
Hemen is originally from Ethiopia, where he saw people in the hot sun all day. That's what inspired him to create the new soap.
In addition to the title, he won $25,000 for his research. He hopes to create a nonprofit one day and give his cancer-fighting soap to communities in need.
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