Heman Bekele and Dr. Don Dizon | Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation

Dr. Don Dizon:
This podcast is brought to you by Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. Our mission is to accelerate breakthroughs in life-saving research and empower people everywhere to conquer cancer.

Welcome to Your Stories, a podcast where we hear candid stories from people conquering cancer. I'm your host, Dr. Don Dizon.

Of the following statements about Heman Bekele, one of them is not true:

He invented a soap that could potentially be used to treat and perhaps even prevent skin cancer.

He graduated summa cum laude from MIT with a degree in biochemical engineering before earning his PhD in biomedical sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

One of his earliest chemistry experiments nearly started a fire.

If you guessed that he did not attend MIT or Johns Hopkins, you'd be correct. That's not to say he can't or never will. He just has to graduate from high school first. Last year, Heman, a sophomore at a public high school in Fairfax County, Virginia, was named Time magazine's Kid of the Year, an honor that earned him a spot on the magazine's cover and a whole lot of buzz in the scientific community.

Welcome, Heman. Thrilled to have you here today.

Heman Bekele:
Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here as well.

Dr. Don Dizon:
And I think, Heman, just so that we treat each other as equals, you can call me Don if you want to refer to me. Okay?

Heman Bekele:
Okay.

Dr. Don Dizon:
But before we get started, let's just hear where you're joining us from today.

Heman Bekele:
Yeah, I'm in Northern Virginia in Fairfax County.

Dr. Don Dizon:
Great. And let's get into it then. Take us back to the beginning. And, just for our listeners, tell us when you first became fascinated with science, invention, chemistry. And please, if you wouldn't mind, don't leave out any details about that fire.

Heman Bekele:
Yeah. So, since before I can remember, I've been really passionate about science. And it didn't start with cancer research. There was so much experimentation from a really young age that, you know, at times, was a little bit dangerous. I remember when I was really young, I used to mix together random household chemicals just to see what reaction could come out of them. Back then I would call them potions, but of course, they were really just a mixture, maybe dish soap and detergent. And honestly, multiple days there was that risk and that fear. There was never really one day where a fire started and it had to be stopped. But definitely there were many times where, looking back, I definitely came quite close with some things that I was working with. And so that initial curiosity is what I give so much credit to to the research that I do today, because, of course, they are on two completely different scales. but at the same time, even when I'm doing research now in the lab, I always think back to when I was really young and tinkering with whatever I could get my hands on.

Dr. Don Dizon:
That's so funny to me because I am a parent to twin 17-year-olds and, you know, we're taught as parents, make sure that these chemicals are in a place where kids can't get to them. But I always think the risk for children is ingestion, right? They might drink it or swallow it and really hurt themselves. And then here you are saying, "Oh, I wonder what this will do if I mix it with this." Is that what you're telling our listeners?

Heman Bekele:
Yeah, exactly. I mean, the risk is ingestion, but for me, the risk was more how it works with other chemicals. I mean, I was smart enough not to drink it, but at the same time, it was a worry of what would happen when you mix it and react it with the other chemicals around the house as well.

Dr. Don Dizon:
I think that's excellent and actually quite fascinating.

So, let's take you through then, because I imagine there's a pretty fascinating chain of ideas and thoughts that ultimately led someone to think, "You know, what would be great for treating skin cancer? Soap." So maybe you could tell us a bit about the evolution towards that point and how you came to focus on this as an idea.

Heman Bekele:
Yeah. So, I mean, I was born in Ethiopia and I moved to America when I was about four years old. So I don't really remember much, but one of the things that really stood out to me was I recall a lot of people that worked really long hours outside in the sun. And as well as that, coming to the United States and doing additional research, I just found out how big of an issue skin cancer is in third-world countries. And more specifically, just a lack of awareness or treatments available for issues that come with UV radiation exposure, which is very imminent in a lot of these countries, especially in Africa, where it does get quite hot and quite sunny. And so with that, I knew that there was a problem there. And I've known that for quite some time as I continue to learn more and read more and just see more and even hear stories from back home. And so I really wanted to, in a way, make my contribution in a way that was a twist to what I was really passionate about, which, as we have spoken about now, is really science. I mean, I'm really passionate about science, innovation, and mixing things together back then. But really to this day, it's research. And so I wanted to make a research-based contribution. And so that's where I first got the idea. I want to take action within the field of skin cancer and make it more affordable to get treatment for skin cancer. And I think that's when the idea really first stemmed, when I was maybe eleven or twelve years old.

And then from there, it was a very slow trial-and-error process of landing on a bar of soap to treat skin cancer. I think it started with a patch because I felt that was affordable. And then from there, it's okay, that's cheap, but at the same time, you know, what is that universal product that everyone uses? And I did land on soap, which significantly outweighed every other option. Lotion came pretty close. I knew I wanted to do a topical application, but it was tricky to land on which one I wanted, and in the end, it ended up being soap. But that was a very long and slow process that really took so much advice from so many different people and so much research on my own before I landed on the bar of soap to treat skin cancer.

Dr. Don Dizon:
That's incredible. So it seems like your upbringing really informed your passion, and that ended up informing your research. And you know, what's so interesting about skin cancer is we tend not to think about it as an issue for people with Black and Brown pigments. So I think our audience will be really interested to understand that skin cancer is a universal issue, and it's something that affects people on the African continent as well.

Heman Bekele:
Yeah, yeah, that's so true. I mean, I get this a lot where one of the biggest misconceptions is that skin cancer doesn't exist amongst areas where people might have a darker skin complexion. And so factually, it is quite less prevalent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And there are still so many people that are dying from it, even if you look into the numbers and you look at the research. And so it is still quite prevalent, especially since, even though it is a lot harder to get, a lot more people in African countries have work that is out in the sun and might lead to getting skin cancer. So there is definitely a lower prevalence, but at the same time, it still exists, and it's still something we should be very empathetic towards, especially in third-world countries where skin cancer does still appear quite often.

Dr. Don Dizon:
Yeah, I think that's really important because it's the concept that no one with skin has natural immunity to the effects of UV radiation. But I think it's just such an important take-home point. And you know, I think by the very nature that you focused on skin cancer, you're already breaking through a very large misconception out there. So that in and of itself is a contribution to science. But tell me, at what point did you start to think, oh, you might actually have something?

Heman Bekele:
Yeah, it definitely took some time because when I was first starting off the research, it was more just this fun passion project that I really just wanted to see what I could do. Make like a blueprint, maybe a prototype, and then end it there. But slowly it started to dawn on me that this research could go so much further. When I first had that realization was when I started to first work in a lab setting. That was about two and a half years ago now at UVA when I first cold-emailed a professor and asked for some advice on the research. And at that point, there was a pretty fundamental amount done. And it was at the point where I had the, you know, “It was a bar of soap. This is the ingredient that I want to use, the active ingredient. And I was just wondering if you'd be willing to give some advice.” And so I got some pretty good advice from that. But that was that first time where I felt like this really could be more than just a passion project, which it was at the time. The fact that I was not only working on this by myself, but alongside researchers that have truly made such a big impact on this world already really gave me so much confidence and so much hope for what skin cancer treating soap could be.

Dr. Don Dizon:
So I'm just actually curious, how easy or hard was it to find mentors?

Heman Bekele:
It was quite difficult, especially starting off. I'm really grateful. As time goes on, it gets a little bit easier as skin cancer treating soap increases in validity. But in the beginning, it was quite difficult simply because people were definitely skeptical. There is that stigma that comes with age. As a 15-year-old, it is a little bit difficult to acquire research at the in-person lab scale when you're so young, and people don't necessarily trust that you will be capable in that lab setting. As well as that, the idea itself of a skin cancer treating soap, it does seem a little bit wacky. It needs a little bit of context and a lot of research before somebody can have full faith or trust in that idea. And so there were a lot of different things that made it quite hard starting out to get mentorship. And it really has gotten easier with time, with increased validity and research on the idea.

Dr. Don Dizon:
You know, it just reminds me—I'm old enough to remember when cancer was something you only had chemotherapy for. And when I was in college, I did work on a certain form of leukemia which was associated with this chromosomal abnormality called the Philadelphia chromosome. And I was in a lab - they were trying to just understand the biological aspects of that. And then forward two years later, all of a sudden, someone just asked us, "What if we just had a pill that just blocked it, just blocked the chromosomal activation?" And everybody was like, "No, that will never work." And it turned out it did, and it changed that disease forever. But it was almost like someone just went back and said, "Here's a simple idea. I wonder what would happen?" And it changed the field of oncology. And that's sort of—you go into this field where there's all this research and all this biological understanding, and then you come in and say, "Well, let's just go back and say, well, what if we tried to do this?" And I can see how that might be sort of a challenging thing, but sometimes it takes this outside-the-box thinking. So it sort of reminded me of that story.

Heman Bekele:
Yeah, I get that as well. I mean, especially starting off, it was just like that proposition of, why don't we use a more affordable—because skin cancer treatment does exist, it’s just that it's a surgery - and so my proposition of making it cheaper was something that I guess wasn't as explored or as something that was very much even thought of as necessary, because treatment already exists in the form of surgeries that can really range in the tens of thousands of dollars, uninsured. And so that was my twist on it, which definitely was introduced with some skepticism as well.

Dr. Don Dizon:
I think that's great. And as you know by now, lots of us who do research, and certainly the scientists who run their own labs—a lot of them spend decades, perhaps even their entire career trying to prove hypotheses or validate ideas with differential degrees of success. And here you are, having done that, validated an idea, and really came upon a concept that could potentially save lives across the globe. And you've done it all before you're old enough to drive a car.

So here's your chance. What would you say to scientists—Ph.D. graduates starting their own labs or even, you know, midway through their first early investigators? What would you say to them, especially if they're struggling to transform their idea into something tangible like you did?

Heman Bekele:
Well, to start, I would say that I'm just very inspired by them as individuals. You know, I'm still very early on in my career within scientific research, and I'm just so inspired seeing people who had that drive to have an idea and decide to pursue it or decide to work within the field of research and really do such a benevolent job where you're really working towards the good of humanity with a lot of the research that you do.

I would say that if you do have an idea and are having trouble with how you're pursuing it, it really is so different on a case-by-case basis. For me, I was so fortunate because I had that empathy towards people who had skin cancer and people who weren't able to afford the treatment for it. And so I was able to implement my love for science into that. But it really does matter. You have to find what you truly are passionate about. I'm a very strong believer that passion is the strongest driving force of any action. And so if you find a disease or a problem in society that you're truly passionate about, that's when real action and real ideas can really come out of that. And so it's just a matter of making sure you're in a field that you're passionate about. But from there, if anything, I really feel as if I should receive advice. if anything, I'm so inspired by researchers and scientists, especially at that higher level.

Dr. Don Dizon:
I think that's great. I think that's great. And certainly, we still— I think the humbling thing, actually, Heman, is that it just highlights the point that you can always learn from somebody. A senior scientist can always learn from a junior in high school who asks a question you may not have ever considered. It's like our life experiences inform a worldview, and that worldview may be very different from yours, but there are things you will learn if you're just able to listen. So I guess the one thing that struck me about your story, again, it's going back to the struggle you had first trying to get someone to give you the opportunity to pursue your ideas, to find mentorship. And that is something that actually a lot of us have struggled with as we've gone through our careers, either just trying to establish a mentoring relationship. Maybe it's as, you know, as you finish your medical school or you finish residency, and certainly as you finish your fellowship, but this notion of trying to find support, which if you don't have it, can erode confidence and it can lead you to question why you're doing what you're doing. And I think the one message that people can take away from you (and then there are many) is your ability to sustain yourself. And a part of it you've explained is passion. But looking back on your journey thus far, even—what kind of wisdom can you impart that has made it certainly successful to this point?

Heman Bekele:
I would say that skin cancer treating soap is really backed by certain ideals that are very aligned with humanitarianism, to be honest—things like empathy and compassion and truly a care for people who might not be able to afford the treatment, which led to the creation of the invention. And so when an idea is rooted out of passion and out of these core ideals of humanitarianism, where truly it's out of benevolence, out of a care for other people, and out of a care to, you know, change somebody else's life, then that really does boost not only the productivity as you're working on it, just because you do have that intrinsic motivation, but also it really just feels so much better when you're actually making this product come to fruition, because there is that top benefit of it being there to change someone else's life, to being an impactful idea. And so I would say that more than anything, skin cancer treating soap is just based out of ideals that are very much impactful. And so that's what really has kept it going for so long, is that impact and that ability for it to have such an impact on somebody else's life. And that's really motivating for me as well to keep the idea going.

Dr. Don Dizon:
Well, I think you're speaking like a natural-born clinician because so many of us go into medicine for the very same reasons that you've said. It's to be able to help people and to really impact the person. But I think your discovery does have that potential to reach a global population. And for that, I am extending my congratulations.

Heman Bekele:
Thank you.

Dr. Don Dizon:
So, one final question for you as we end here. What does conquering cancer look like to you?

Heman Bekele:
I think that it's new, innovative solutions coming out. And I really stress innovative, as in things that are very novel and things that you would have never thought could be used against fighting cancer. There are some long-term solutions that, of course, will just continue to be researched over time, things like chemotherapy, which will maybe lower the risk and lower all of those problematic side effects that come with it. But at the same time, I also do stress novelty and innovativeness in the sense that really new ideas—things like a bar of soap for cancer, things like the pill that we were talking about—more than anything, I think that conquering cancer to me looks like more and more novel and very interesting ideas coming into the field of fighting cancer.

Dr. Don Dizon:
I think what you've proven is that novelty and innovation doesn't necessarily mean abandoning commonly available solutions either. So how do we build on things that we're already using every day? Because, like, you know, one of the things that we struggle with, especially in communities where mistrust of Western medicine is paramount, is how to get wider acceptance of novel therapies. And if you're building on something as basic and critical as soap, that's almost a way in to introduce innovations in medicine.

Heman Bekele:
I totally agree with that.

Dr. Don Dizon:
Well, thank you so much for joining me, Heman. I hope you have a good rest of the week and also congratulations on all the progress you've made.

Heman Bekele:
Thank you so much. I loved talking and I'm really grateful to you for having me.

Dr. Don Dizon:
I think I will speak for our audience - we'll all be watching with interest and hope as you move forward in your own career.

So thank you for listening to this podcast brought to you by Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. Conquer Cancer is creating a world where cancer is prevented or cured and every survivor is healthy. You can make a gift at conquer.org/podcast. The participants of this podcast report no conflicts of interest relevant to this podcast. Full disclosures can be found on the episode page on conquer.org.

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