[With Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow as a guide into the new community medicine]

Internationally there is an urge to vitalize the theory and practice of public health. A new public health emerges, characterized by: Knowledge base on anthropology and ecology, not on epidemiology Export of health expertise and commitment to other sectors: agriculture, urban planning, media, etc. Mobilizing and qualifying the individual as well as the local community to invest in personal and environmental health Focus on public health threats deriving from political and economic power structures. The new public health needs the old virtues of the pioneers of social medicine, in this article represented by Virchow (1821-1902): One half of the brain in biomedicine, one in social medicine Courage to confront the Establishment Respect for the people and a dedication to democratize medicine A basic instinct for social justice.