The first symposium on Panama’s paleontology “Advances in the understanding of vertebrate paleontology in Panama: Interchanges and Neotropical connections” was held August 16-18 at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the University of Panama. Several topics were discussed related to geology and the vertebrate fossil discoveries made in Panama, focusing on the ones made from the Panama Canal area. The knowledge produced in recent years by PCP-PIRE project researchers was also discussed. Students and faculty from the Biology department at the University of Panama and Marine Biology students at the International Maritime University of Panama attended the symposium.