As part of its expansion plan, the Federal University in Viçosa created its School Of Medicine. Based on the Brazilian National Curriculum guidelines, the course seeks early integration of students into the primary care network. Central concerns in creating the course included integration of the school with public healthcare services and training of human resources with a sense of social responsibility, commitment to citizenship, and skills for serving the population's needs and operationalizing the Unified National Health System. The school was accredited by the Ministry of Education, with simultaneous approval for a project under the Educational Program for Health Work (PET-Saúde). This case report analyzes the multiple challenges of creating a new school of medicine in a traditional public university, based on the National Curriculum guidelines and an integrated curriculum, (re)thinking the initial experiences of the protagonists in the Educational Program for Health Work (PET-Saúde/UFV).