drew more than 3,100 participants and 250 guest speakers, reaffirming its position as one of the world's largest epidemiology congresses. The event took place in a context of serious threats both to Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS), the development of Brazilian science, and the various social policies that have been implemented since the 1988 Constitution. The scientific committee adopted the theme Epidemiology in Defense of the Unified Health System: Teaching, Research, and

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... ention for the congress. Brazilian epidemiology has a history of combining methodologically rigorous research with the commitment to lend meaning to the resulting knowledge through its incorporation by health policies and programs. This relationship between theory and practice was reconfirmed at Epi 2017, a particularly important moment in the context of pro-market and austerity policies that clash with the commitments to social justice and equality that have marked the Brazilian health reform movement. The congress program was structured along a set of thematic lines: rigorous, comprehensive, and sustainable knowledge production; development and evaluation of interventions aimed at strengthening the SUS and health policies and programs; and training in epidemiology. According to the scientific committee, these thematic areas, developed in conferences, courses, round tables, and lectures, allowed addressing the most relevant questions for Brazilian epidemiology, expressing recent methodological developments in Brazil and the world, and applications to improve the population's living conditions. We debated the crucial role of scientific and methodological advancement for overcoming economic crises, analyzing evidence against the current government's policies in Brazil, which involve drastic budget cuts for science and technology. We observed how recent fiscal austerity policies in Europe have negatively affected the health of populations on that continent. We analyzed Brazil's own experience, focusing on the impact of social policies like Bolsa Família (Income Transfer Program) and the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program. We listened proudly to the collective work of a group of researchers and medical, surveillance, and laboratory professionals from the SUS, with the support of the Brazilian Ministry of Health and other public agencies, and how they successfully identified the 10 th Brazilian Congress of Epidemiology: building our field with solidarity