Abstract
The paper presents and transcribes excerpts from an interview with Maria José von Paumgartten Deane in 1989 on her personal and professional trajectory, as part of Casa de Oswaldo Cruz's "Projeto Memória de Manguinhos." The interviewee shares her experience in the field of science from the 1930s onward within a predominantly masculine context, as well as strategies for female affirmation, and also describes her experiences working with Evandro Chagas, scientific travels and lifelong partnership with Leônidas de Mello Deane.