Background: there are 336 active medical schools in Brazil, which graduate an average of 34,000 medical professionals each year. Of these schools, less than 20% have in their curricula a formal evidence-based medicine (EBM) discipline. The lack of formal EBM integration into medical school curricula is not exclusively a national concern for Brazil. Data from the USA and UK suggests that only 60% of curricula include formal EBM content. Despite the recognition of the importance of EBM education and its influence on medical training around the world, challenges remain in integrating EBM education into the medical curriculum, facilitating communication between practitioners, increasing the capacity for EBM’s meaningful use in clinical practice, and ensuring medical professionals have the knowledge and skills to support evidence-based practice. An international collaboration called the ‘Oxford-Brazil EBM Alliance’ was created to address this concern. The ‘Alliance’ is partnership between the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) and the EBM Departments of two leading Brazilian medical schools.

Objective: to describe the experience of building a partnership between the Oxford CEBM and two leading Brazilian Medical Schools in order to enhance EBM teaching in Brazil.

Method: descriptive case study

Results: ‘Oxford-Brazil EBM Alliance’ aims to provide EBM and curriculum development training to medical educators (formal professors or tutors) in Brazil. Two prominent Brazilian medical schools, where EBM is already established, joined the ‘Oxford-Brazil EBM Alliance’: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM) at Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) and Faculdade de Medicina de Petrópolis (FMP-FASE). Training is based on ‘teaching-the-teacher’ approach and will be delivered via a series of three-day workshops, starting in June 2019. Professors and facilitators from Oxford and Brazil will carry out the teaching and facilitate the workshops. Other activities may emerge afterwards as instigated by local institutions. This project is underpinned by a concept of creating and developing a centre of excellence in EBM teaching and training, which intends to become a standard bearer and reference not only in Brazil but throughout South America. It is our overarching aim that over time Brazil will have at least one qualified faculty member to teach EBM in all of its Medical Teaching Institutions.

Conclusion: the ‘Oxford-Brazil EBM Alliance’ is a promising initiative that can bring EBM training to thousands of medical professors and interdisciplinary healthcare teams throughout Brazil and its neighbouring countries.