[Teaching social sciences at a medical school: the story of one course (1965-90)]

This article analyzes the history of the course in social sciences applied to the field of medicine, offered at Unicamp's Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas for 25 years (1965-90). It shows how this particular course was influenced by the international seminars that defined new directions in medical education during the 1950s. It also explores the role played by the Pan-American Health Organization and by Brazilian institutions in posing health care as a social issue. This history is divided into three periods: initial experiences, from 1965 to 1969; construction of a social health-care project in the 1970s; and the 1980s consolidation of this project. The various teaching approaches always sought to incorporate the social dimension and its dynamics in order to gain a better understanding of the health-sickness process and the organization of health practices.