During his career as a pediatric surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Du Bois spent countless hours in the operating room saving people’s lives. Now, as a retired surgeon, Dr. Du Bois is using his passion for saving lives as motivation for his cycling trip up the Atlantic coast of the United States. On April 23, 2025, Dr. Du Bois and two other cyclists set off on their excursion, starting in Key West, Fla. As he hits the open roads over the next few months, Dr. Du Bois will be raising money for pediatric cancer research at UW–Madison.
“I want to use this ride for something more than just the experience by focusing on something of greater importance, and something that has a little personal connection,” Dr. Du Bois said.
In 2018, Dr. Du Bois joined the division as a part-time surgeon in the Department of Surgery. During his time as a UW–Madison surgeon, his primary clinical practice was at Gunderson Health System, a UW Health affiliate in La Crosse, Wis. Dr. Du Bois enjoyed his time at UW–Madison and especially enjoyed working in the Division of Pediatric Surgery.
“They are a great group of physicians and a great group of people,” Dr. Du Bois said.
Working for the Department of Surgery is not Dr. Du Bois’ only connection to Wisconsin. Born in Milwaukee, Dr. Du Bois still has family connections to both Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For a period when he was 17, Dr. Du Bois lived with his grandmother in Wisconsin. During this time, she encouraged him to attend UW–Madison, like his uncles had done. While he ended up returning to California for his undergraduate degree, he has always felt connected to Wisconsin.
“I’ve always had this sort of pull back to Wisconsin,” Dr. Du Bois said.
As this cycling trip came together, Dr. Du Bois was excited for the ride, but he felt as though there was an opportunity for it to have a greater impact, so he decided to make it a fundraiser. He began reflecting on his career to figure out the focus of his fundraiser.
“As a pediatric surgeon, I did a lot of cancer surgery,” Dr. Du Bois said.
This is what drew Dr. Du Bois to focus his fundraiser on pediatric cancer research at American Family Children’s Hospital. He set the goal of raising $10,000.
“I want to kind of reach for the stars here and see what I can get,” Dr. Du Bois said.
While this may be the first fundraising cycling trip that Dr. Du Bois has done, it is not the first time he has set out for a cross-country cycling trip. In 2023, Dr. Du Bois had planned to do his first cross-country ride with a group of cyclists, but due to a case of COVID, he was delayed. By the time he joined the group, they were traveling at a much faster pace than what he could keep up with as someone who had just recovered from COVID. He rode for about 1,000 miles before he had to abandon this trip. Ever since, he had been looking for an opportunity to go on another cross-country ride so he could finish what he started.
Through the help of the Adventure Cycling Association and a cycling Facebook group, Dr. Du Bois connected with a couple of other cyclists who shared his passion for cycling adventure.
“This opportunity with a small group of riders who were going along the Atlantic coast and breaking up in to two different rides came up,” Dr. Du Bois said. “The first half is from Key West to D.C., and we hope to be in D.C. by the end of May [or] beginning of June.”
The group will then take a break over the summer, so they can fulfill other obligations and spend some time with their loved ones
“Then we will pick up some time in early September and ride either D.C. to Maine or Maine to D.C. to complete it,” Dr. Du Bois said.
The group is traveling at a pace of about 12.5 miles per hour and they are averaging about 60 miles per day. Their daily routine is pretty consistent.
“The goal is to be ready to roll at about 6:45am because down here [in Florida] that’s when it turns light,” Dr. Du Bois said.
They start by riding for about 10 to 15 miles, until they can find a McDonalds to stop at for a cost-effective breakfast. From there, they continue their ride and take occasional breaks as needed. Around noon-1pm, they eat a light lunch. After this, they continue to ride. If they are spending the night at a campground, they finish their ride by stopping at a grocery store to get ingredients for dinner. Then, they wake up and do it all over again. Every 7-10 days, they take a rest day so they can do some light maintenance to their bikes and give their bodies a break.
Once Dr. Du Bois completes this ride, it will be the longest ride he has ever done. One thing making this accomplishment even better for Dr. Du Bois is that he is raising money for pediatric cancer research in the process.
“I would really love to see us hit that target and maybe even exceed it… that would make it even more of an enjoyable ride for me,” Dr. Du Bois said.
Interested in supporting Dr. Du Bois’ goal of ending childhood cancers? Donate to his cause here. Your gift helps support groundbreaking pediatric research and clinical trials that save lives and achieve the best patient outcomes possible.