In December 1943, Dr. Emmanuel Dias initiated an ambitious scientific project in Bambui (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil) to address the epidemiology and control of Chagas disease1-3. Three years prior, Amilcar Martins and collaborators had described a hyperendemic incidence of the disease in that region based on the detection of 25 acute cases and a high level of housing infestation by Triatominae bugs1,4,5. At that time, the recognition of this disease was very difficult and mainly limited to acute cases discovered by Carlos Chagas himself and Argentinian and Uruguayan researchers, namely, Romana, Mazza and Talice3,5. Invited by Martins, Dias and Romana immediately visited Bambui and produced a historical report with a prophetical prognosis that a local center for the study of Chagas disease would provide a tremendous improvement in the knowledge and control of this trypanosomiasis3,6,7. In the face of difficult circumstances, Dias was charged by his director, Dr. Henrique Aragao, to proceed with this task1,3. In addition to the description of other acute cases of Chagas disease, Dias’s attention soon was drawn to the innumerable chronic cases, most of which presented with severe cardiopathy, which was responsible for premature deaths throughout the region. Within a few months, Dias wrote that it was urgently necessary to stop the transmission of Chagas by means of a drastic reduction in the number of domiciled vectors, an ambitious effort implemented via housing improvement, intensive health education and the use of available insecticides and physical tools such as flamethrowers, kerosene, caustic soda and hydrocyanic gas1-3,7,8. In parallel, the chronic disease also needed to be addressed. This task required improved diagnostic and clinical characterization, especially for cases involving heart disease1,5,9,10. Enthusiastic and ever determined, Dias recruited several colleagues from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute into various aspects of the project. These colleagues included an immunologist (Julio Muniz), pathologists (Aloisio Miranda and Magarinos Torres), an entomologist (Herman Lent), general physicians (Genard Nobrega) and a cardiologist (Francisco Laranja). Additionally, Jose Pellegrino of Belo Horizonte was charged with assisting in insecticide trials and experimental cardiopathy1-3. As an immediate result, various aspects of the transmission and morbidity of Chagas disease were elucidated by means of well-planned epidemiological investigations, which were performed among non-selected regional populations and included serology coupled with entomology, electrocardiography and clinical data. Within a few years, the group had obtained an efficient insecticide (Gammexane) and elucidated the systematization of the basic clinical, epidemiologic and pathologic aspects of chronic cardiopathy due to Chagas disease1-3,5,9-11. At the beginning, the Center was installed in a modest house rented by the Institute. In 1951, a new and modern building was constructed using state, federal and municipal resources1 (Figure 1).