The Institute of Hygiene was created in 1918 in the state capital of São Paulo, by an agreement between the govemment of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, and the Intemational Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation. Emerging in a period of intense institutional-building in the field of biomedical science, the Institute of Hygiene is a telling case of the successful merging of State modemization targets and intemational aid. The discussion focuses upon the initial steps and the consolidation of this important institution, its daily scientific activities, the courses offered to medical graduates and public health nurses, the political game that medical scientists and sanitarians played in their intercourse with politicians and the authorities of the Sanitary Service of the State of São Paulo. As a leading political unity in the federation, though partly influenced by the modemization efforts of the federal authorities in the nation's capital, São Paulo had a unique role in the development of scientific careers, public health policies, and laboratory research in the country. The Instituto de Higiene played an important role in this processo.
Institute of Hygiene; institutional history; scientific traditions; institutional crisis