This paper is focused on the production and circulation of medical knowledge ‘from below’ in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the aim is to investigate the link between personal and professional resilience and the sharing of knowledge and practices at a time of epistemic rupture. The empirical case intends to discuss a Community of Practice (CoP) formed by a network of health professionals spontaneously activated in northern Italy during the first pandemic waves. Dynamics within the network were examined through a grounded theory approach, bringing out some analytical categories from the empirical field – 18 video interviews. Emerging narratives within the CoP reaffirm the value of medical practice, highlighting how in a condition of structural crisis expertise can give meaning to individual action through shared processes of signification, filling the temporary absence of recognized and established knowledge: recognizing the relevance of CoPs in knowledge production and circulation could better integrate them into the healthcare organization to promote systemic change and sustainability.

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