Two professors from the National University of Singapore (NUS) will ride their motorcycles from Singapore to Sweden next March in the name of breast cancer research and education.

Clinical Associate Professor Philip Iau and Associate Professor Mikael Hartman from the surgery department at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine aim to raise awareness about breast cancer issues in developing countries. They are also raising funds for research into the disease, which has been the most common cancer among females in Singapore. In the last four decades, 60 women out of every 100,000 each year have been diagnosed with the cancer.

The trip, called The Long Ride, is expected to last from March to July next year and will cover 17 countries and more than 23,000km. The two surgeons will make stops to conduct lectures, surgical demonstrations and public health symposiums in cities such as Penang, Chiang Mai, Chengdu, Almaty and Ankara.

They also hope to meet people along the way who suffer from or have treated breast cancer. "We want to tell their story - what it is like to be an Asian woman with breast cancer - the access to care, the cultural and religious views on treatment, the effect of that treatment," said Dr Iau in a media release.