Photo: Tor Birk Trads
11 April 2025
Habiba Amer from the International School of Hellerup is this year’s recipient of the LEO Foundation’s Rising Star Prize. The young science talent received the award for her project exploring the potential of Vitamin C in cancer treatment.
High school student Habiba Amer from the International School of Hellerup was Tuesday honored with the LEO Foundation’s Rising Star Prize at the finals of the Young Scientists (Unge Forskere) competition at Musikhuset Aarhus. She received the award for her project (Vitamin) C is for Cancer, investigating whether high concentrations of ascorbic acid – also known as vitamin C – can target cancer cells without harming healthy ones. The goal is to develop more effective and less harmful treatment.
“The LEO Foundation Rising Star Prize is given to an innovative project with the potential to address an important health challenge – and Habiba’s project meets that. It is not only academically strong but also communicated with infectious enthusiasm and curiosity, which really impressed us,” Anne-Marie Engel, Chief Scientific Officer at the LEO Foundation, says.
The Rising Star Award was presented in the Life Science category of the Young Scientists competition for upper secondary students, and the winner was awarded a cash prize of DKK 5,000.
About the LEO Foundation’s Rising Star Award
The LEO Foundation’s Rising Star Prize is a special prize under Young Scientists – Denmark’s largest science talent competition for children and young people in primary and secondary school. The award recognizes outstanding projects that combine strong academic quality with innovation and communication skills within health science.