Located in Xuhui District, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University (SMCFU) was founded in 1927 as the National No.4 Sun Yat-sen University School of Medicine, the first-ever national university medical school founded by Chinese people. Dr. Yan Fuqing was the first Dean. In 1932, the institution

gained independence under the name of National Shanghai Medical College. Its motto is “An Ultimate Dedication to Righteousness and Professionalism above Personal Gains and Interests”, which was borrowed fromThe History of the Han Dynasty: Biography of Dong Zhongshu (《汉书·董仲舒传》), which states that the benevolent dedicate themselves to righteousness and justice instead of chasing personal gains. In 1939, the institution moved to Kunming, Yunnan as the War of Resistance against Japanese Invasion broke out. In 1940, it was relocated to Sichuan and Chongqing. In 1946, after the victory of the war, the institution moved back to Shanghai. In 1952, it was renamed Shanghai No.1 Medical College. In 1959, it was acknowledged as one of the 16 national key higher education institutions. In 1985, the college was renamed Shanghai Medical University. In 2000, a new Fudan University emerged after merging with Shanghai Medical University. In 2012, the new Shanghai Medical College was established as an agency of Fudan University’s Party Committee to exercise relatively independent management authority in personnel training, scientific research, discipline construction, development planning, resources allocation and external exchange as authorized by Fudan University. In 2017, the CPC Working Committee of Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University was set up as an agency of the university’s Party Committee. On December 21, 2018, the Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government officially signed an agreement on co-hosting Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University and its directly affiliated hospitals. On June 14, 2019, the leadership announcement meeting of Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University was held,  The CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee decided to set up the CPC Committee and CPC Discipline Inspection Committee of Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University. On the same day, SMCFU officially launched the pilot construction of a high-level local university in Shanghai.

SMCFU offers 10 bachelor’s degree programs: Clinical Medicine (eight-year), Clinical Medicine (5-year), Clinical Medicine (6-year), Stomatology, Basic Medicine, Forensic Medicine, Preventive Medicine, Public Management, Pharmacy and Nursing. There are nine first-level disciplines (six medical disciplines and three non-medical ones) to which a doctor’s degree can be conferred and eight centers for postdoctoral studies: Biology, Basic Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Integrative Medicine, Pharmacy, Public Management (healthcare) and Nursing.

As of the end of 2021, SMCFU has a total of 10,964 enrolled students, including 3,477 doctoral students, 3,338 postgraduate students and 4,149 undergraduate students. It possesses a faculty of 713 full-time teachers and 153 full-time researchers, among whom 573 hold senior professional titles. The college boasts ten academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), five academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and more than 200 national high-level talents, including 100-plus national young talents.

SMCFU is now structured with 10 schools, departments and institutes: School of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Clinical Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Pharmacy, School of Nursing, Institute of Biomedical Science, Institute of Brain Science, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Department of Laboratory Animal Science and Institute for Translational Brain Research. It has 18 affiliated hospitals (including planned ones): Zhongshan Hospital, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Cancer Center, Obstetrics & Gynecology Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Eye & ENT Hospital, Jinshan Hospital, Shanghai Fifth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Huadong Hospital, Pudong Hospital, Central Hospital of Jing’an District, Minhang Hospital, Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center, Central Hospital of Qingpu District, Xuhui Hospital, Mental Health Center (planned) and Shanghai Stomatological Hospital (planned) .

SMCFU has in place six first-level disciplines such as Basic Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Integrative Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing, and a planned one, namely Stomatology, which is under construction.Among them, Basic Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Pharmacy and Integrative Medicine have been included in the first batch of disciplines for national “Double First-Class” construction, and Basic Medicine, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Integrative Medicine have been included in the peak discipline construction program in Shanghai. It has set up the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, the National Clinical Research Center for Radiology and Therapyand the National Children’s Medical Center(Shanghai), the National Medical Center for Neurological Disorders and the National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases;a state key laboratory: Medical Neurobiology;five key laboratories of the Ministry of Education: Medical Molecular Virology, Metabolic Molecular Medicine, Smart Drug Delivery,Public Health Security, Cancer Carcinogenesis and Invasion; a frontier science center of the Ministry of Education: Brain Science; nine key laboratories of the National Health Commission (Ministry of Health): Glycoconjugates, Clinical Pharmacology of Antibiotics, Restoration of Hand Injury, Medical Technology Assessment, Medical Molecular Virology, Audiology,Myopia, Viral Cardiology and Neonatal Diseases; 14 key laboratories in Shanghai: Microsurgery of Peripheral Nerve, Medical Imaging and Computer-Assisted Technology, Organ Transplant, Female Reproductive and Endocrine Diseases, Renal Diseases and Blood Purification, Visual Impairment and Reconstruction, Breast Tumor, Birth Defects Intervention, Clinical Geriatrics,Epigenetics, Pulmonary Inflammation and Injury, Brain Function Restoration and Nerve Regeneration, Infectious Diseases and Emergency Response to Infectious Diseases and Biosafety, and Radiation Oncology.