The new Brazilian health model requires physicians with a comprehensive social vision that are trained to provide the community with high-quality care on an on-going basis and are capable of making critical decisions. The current article describes a strategic teaching experiment in epidemiology and biostatistics during undergraduate medical training. The experiment focused on the students themselves as protagonists in acquiring knowledge through the production of information and research in both the community and health services. The strategy resulted in academic integration and interdisciplinarity, contributing to the grasp of clinical topics through an epidemiological and statistical approach. Students realized the importance of scientific output and the development of a professional resume while still in their undergraduate training and proved capable of identifying local problems and managing interventions, acknowledging the latter as a key health research objective. The findings indicate that epidemiology and biostatistics can be taught as successfully as other clinical courses during undergraduate medical training, as long as meaningful learning by students is encouraged.