Aurora University dates back to the Aurora College founded by Ma Xiangbo. At the end of 1902, Cai Yuanpei and others asked the favor from Ma Xiangbo to build the college. Ma Xiangbo donated 3,000 acres of land and asked the French Jesuits for help.

From 1903 to 1912, Aurora College was built at the site of Xujiahui Observatory. Two courses were provided: “Literature” and “Science”. In 1908, School of Liberal Arts and School of Sciences were established.

In February 1903, Aurora College officially opened. Ma Xiangbo took the post of provost, drew up the regulations, and formulated the founding principles of the college.

In February 1905, the French Jesuits missionaries tampered with the regulations, causing the students to drop out of school in anger. Later, Ma Xiangbo resigned, and Aurora College was closed.

In August 1905, Aurora College was reopened under the auspices of the French Jesuits and became a university directly controlled by them.

From 1912 to 1928, Aurora College moved to Lvban Road, Lujiawan District (now Chongqing South Road). Since 1914, Institute of Law and Politics, Institute of Arithmetic Engineering, and Institute of Natural Science and Medicine were founded. Later, the three schools were renamed Institute of Law and Political Science, Institute of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 

In 1911, Aurora College Prep School of Medicine was established. Students needed to complete two years of prep studies and four years of clinical practice for graduation. The teaching hospitals were Guangci Hospital (Ruijin Hospital) and Andang Hospital (Luwan District Central Hospital). 

In 1912, French missionary Kong Daoming was appointed dean of the college. 

In 1914, Institute of Natural Science and Medicine was formally established with a four-year schooling system. 

In 1915, it was renamed Institute of Medicine with a six-year schooling system. Graduates were conferred a doctoral degree.

From 1928 to 1952, the college was expanded into Aurora University. In 1932, School of Medicine, School of Law, and School of Architectural Engineering were founded. 

In 1932, Aurora University was approved by the Ministry of Education to change Institute of Medicine into School of Medicine. Bussiere, a physician from the French Embassy in China, was appointed the dean. The Department of Dentistry with a four-year schooling system was added.

In 1938, missionary Fleme (Doctor of Pathology at the University of Lyon, France) succeeded as the dean. 

In 1948, the Department of Dentistry was renamed the School of Dentistry, with a six-year schooling system. 

In 1950, the School of Dentistry changed its name back to the Department of Dentistry. 

In 1951, Shanghai College of Dentistry was merged into the Department of Dentistry of Aurora University.

Tongde Medical College was established in 1918 and revoked in 1952, spanning 34 years. It is a private medical college run by the Chinese in Shanghai.

In 1918, Shen Yunfei, a member of the Chinese Medical Association, had the idea of holding a medical school. In August of the same year, Tongde Medical Special College was established. The chairman of the Chinese Medical Association Jiang Fengzhi served as the principal, and Shen Yunfei served as the provost. Institute of Medical Care was set up, with a five-year schooling system. The College was officially opened in September. No. 19 Huaiyin Road was rented as the teaching building when it was first built. 

In 1919, an affiliated hospital was built on Qingdao Road. 

In 1920, the Chinese Medical Association decided that the school should be independent. Celebrities and scholars were hired to form a board of directors. Former leader of the Reform Movement of 1898, Kang Youwei, served as the chairman. 

In 1925, Huang Chujiu was nominated the chairman and Pang Jingzhou the principal. The school borrowed No. 1, Lane 67 of Tongfu Road as the school site. 

In 1932, the school reshuffled its board of directors, with Shao Lizi as the chairman and Gu Yuqi as the principal. They purchased five acres of land on Xiangyin Road with the proceeds from fundraising to build the new school. 

In 1935, the construction was completed and the school was opened. In September, the school officially changed its name to Private Tongde Medical College and the schooling duration to six years.

In September 1952, the Ministry of Health of the East China Military and Political Commission merged Shanghai St. John’s University School of Medicine, Aurora University School of Medicine, and Tongde School of Medicine to form the Shanghai Second Medical College following the decision of the Central Ministry of Education on the adjustment of faculties of colleges and universities across the country. Guangci Hospital (now Ruijin Hospital) and Renji Hospital were designated as affiliated hospitals of Shanghai Second Medical College. On October 24, the inauguration ceremony of the college was held. Gong Naiquan was appointed the dean, and Hu Wenyao, Wang Lesan, Ni Baochun, and Yang Shida were the deputy deans. In December, the Organization Department of the East China Representative Body of the Communist Party of China approved the establishment of the Board of Shanghai Second Medical College. Gong Naiquan was the First Secretary of the Party Committee and Wang Lesan was the Second Secretary. 

In 1953, Guangci Nursing School and Renji Nursing School merged to form the Affiliated Nursing School of Shanghai Second Medical College.

In 1954, Hongren Hospital was designated as the affiliated hospital of Shanghai Second Medical College.

In 1955, the Department of Basic Medicine, Department of Medical Care, and Department of Stomatology were established. The Medical College started to enroll students this year. 

In 1956, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital (formerly known as Bethel Hospital) was designated as an affiliated hospital of the Shanghai Second Medical College. Hongren Hospital was reorganized into a chest hospital administrated by Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau.

In 1957, the power of running the Second Medical College Nursing School was delegated to Guangci Hospital, and the school was renamed Guangci Hospital Nursing School.

In 1958, the state implemented a reform of the management system of universities where the Second Medical College became a local university in Shanghai. Guan Zizhan served as the Party Secretary. In the same year, Xinhua Hospital was established and incorporated as an affiliated hospital and an education base for the Department of Pediatrics of the College. Shanghai Fourth Nursing School was placed under Xinhua Hospital and renamed as “Nursing School of Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Second Medical College”. Shanghai Institute of Traumatology, Evening Division of the College, and Shanghai Institute of Hypertension were established one after another. The Ministry of Health approved to change the schooling duration of Paediatrics from five years to six years. Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital (formerly known as Bethel Hospital) was returned to the leadership of the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau.

In 1959, the College decided to divide the medical department into the First and Second Department, one in Guangci Hospital and the other in Renji Hospital. The order officially took effect in March 1961. 

In 1962, Shanghai Medical Special College was closed and merged into Shanghai Second Medical College. In June, the Pediatrics Department of Xinhua Hospital was named as Xinhua Children’s Hospital. 

In 1964, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital was reclassified as an affiliated hospital of the College, serving as a teaching base for the Department of Stomatology. 

In 1965, the school was commissioned by the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau to open the Shanghai Part-farming and Part-study Medical Special College in Jiading County (withdrawn at 1972).

In 1969, the Second Medical College planned to build base hospitals in Jixi County and Ningguo County in southern Anhui. The projects were completed in 1971, and the two hospitals were named Rear Ruijin Hospital and Rear Gutian Hospital. In 1984, the two hospitals merged to found the Rear Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Second Medical College. In 1986, the rear hospital was handed over to the local government for free.

In 1970, a two-year medical pilot class was opened, enrolling the first batch of worker-peasant-soldier students. A total of 2,801 students graduated in the first six years. 

In 1972, in accordance with the unified national regulations, the College officially enrolled worker-peasant-soldier students for a three-year degree. 

In 1975, with the consent of the Municipal Culture and Education Group, the College opened a French class, recruiting 50 students from that year’s middle school graduates. In October 1978, they graduated as junior college students. In December, the school resumed postgraduate education and enrolled 22 postgraduates in the pilot class with a two-year schooling period.

In 1976, the School began to enroll foreign students. The first batch contains 9 students in total.

In 1977, with the unified entrance examination system for colleges and universities restored nationwide, the College enrolled 570 undergraduates. 

In 1978, the Municipal Party Committee appointed Lan Xichun as the dean of Shanghai Second Medical College. The Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection approved the plan for the construction of Baosteel Hospital and recognized the hospital as the teaching hospital of Shanghai Second Medical College. The Shanghai Institute of Pediatrics was established with Gao Jinglang and Guo Di as directors. The College began to enroll postgraduates for a three-year master’s degree.

In 1979, Shanghai Institute of Endocrinology and Shanghai Institute of Immunology were established. The Municipal Education and Health Office approved the cancellation of the Shanghai Second Medical College Health School, and the jurisdiction of the school buildings was handed over to Jiading County. The pharmacy major of the school was merged into the Xinhua Health School. 

In 1980, the Ministry of Education of the PRC designated Shanghai Second Medical College as a national key university. The Ministry of Health approved that the College should resume the major of “Medical French” with a six-year schooling system. Evening Division of the College resumed enrollment and initiated a five-year program for clinical medicine. Shanghai Institute of Immunology was named as the Research Collaboration Center of Immunogenetics by the World Health Organization. 

In 1981, Xinhua Health School was changed to “Shanghai Second Medical College Xinhua Health School” and was approved by the Ministry of Education as a national key technical secondary school. The Second Medical College established the Third Division of the School of Medicine in Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital. In the same year, the Ministry of Education approved that the schooling duration of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Stomatology was changed from five to six years. China’s Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council approved the Second Medical College as the first batch of doctoral and master degree-granting units, with 6 doctoral programs and 21 master programs. 

In 1982, the Party Committee of the Second Medical College decided to establish the Fourth Division of the School of Medicine in Baosteel Hospital. The College and Shanghai University of Science and Technology jointly offered a Biomedical Engineering major that year. In the same year, the Shanghai Institute of Stomatology was built. 

In 1983, the “Introduction to Medical Ethics” compiled by the College was officially published by People's Medical Publishing House on the recommendation of the Ministry of Health. This is the first domestic monograph on medical professional ethics since the founding of the People's Republic of China. 

In 1984, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Department of Biomedical Engineering were set up in the College. In September, Shanghai University of Science and Technology and Shanghai Second Medical College jointly established the Shanghai Institute of Biomedical Engineering. This year, the Advanced Physician Training Department of the College and the Shanghai Institute of Digestive Diseases were established.

In 1985, the municipal government approved the College to change its name to Shanghai Second Medical University. The Shanghai Municipal Education and Health Party Committee decided to formally implement the Dean Responsibility System for the University. The dean would exercise unified leadership over the administration of the University and take full responsibility for works on medical treatment, education, and research, while the party committee would conduct supervision over the administration by the dean. In March, the Ministry of Health approved the addition of the Clinical Pharmacology Research Center to the University. In May, the State Education Commission approved that the University could offer a Senior Nursing major with a five-year schooling period. The Municipal Higher Education Bureau approved the establishment of the Department of Senior Nursing. In May, the University established the Department of Social Sciences. This year, the Medical Bioengineering Research Center and the Traditional Medicine Research Center of Shanghai Second Medical University were established respectively.

In 1986, with the approval of the State Education Commission, the Health Management major was added. The Shanghai Family Planning Commission approved the University to establish the Shanghai Reproductive Medicine Research and Training Center. The University set up the Department of Continuing Education and revoked the Department of Part-time Education under the former Academic Affairs Office. This year, the University enrolled doctoral students majoring in Clinical Medicine for the first time. 

In 1987, the Ministry of Health agreed to establish a “National Medical French Training Center” at Shanghai Second Medical University. In the same year, Shanghai Institute of Hematology and the School of Stomatology of the University were established respectively. 

In 1988, the University was approved by the State Education Commission as one of the pilot medical schools for a seven-year schooling system. The school also began to enroll foreign graduate students this year. It decided to establish the Department of Social Sciences and the Department of Health Management and to abolish the former Division of Social Sciences. The University cooperated with Fudan University to offer both seven-year and five-year English-taught courses of clinical medicine to students. The Municipal Higher Education Bureau approved the setting of a Medical Nutrition major in the University with a five-year schooling system. In the same year, Shanghai Institute of Plastic Surgery and Shanghai Institute of Burns were established respectively. The Institute of Immunology was renamed “Shanghai Cooperation Center for Immunogenetics and Immunopathology”. 

In 1989, with the approval of the Municipal Higher Education Bureau, the School of Basic Medicine of Shanghai Second Medical University was established. The Municipal Education and Health Office approved the merger of Xinhua Health School Affiliated to Shanghai Second Medical University, Ruijin Hospital Nursing School, and Shanghai People’s Ninth Hospital Nursing School into Shanghai Second Medical University Affiliated Health School. From June 1988 to June 1989, the University successively held the opening ceremony for 11 hospitals to be its teaching hospitals, including Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, the First and Second Hospital of Shanghai Textile Bureau, the Central Hospital of Luwan District, the Municipal Medical Laboratory Center, the Municipal Children's Hospital, and the Municipal Mental Health Center. 

In 1991, the Shanghai Municipal Organization Committee agreed to establish the Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated to Shanghai Second Medical University. The French Language Training Center of Shanghai Second Medical University under the Ministry of Health, jointly established by China and France, was inaugurated at the University. Approved by the Ministry of Personnel and the National Postdoctoral Management Committee, the University established a postdoctoral mobile station for clinical medicine. In the same year, the Shanghai Institute of Laser Medicine was established. 

In 1992, the University began to enroll foreign doctoral students. 

In 1993, the first domestic Human Gene Therapy Research Center, the Second Medical University Biomechanics Laboratory, and the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Human Genome Research were successively established. The Key Laboratory of Medical Cell Biology under Shanghai Higher Education Bureau was established in the University. The same year, Shanghai Advanced Nursing Center was inaugurated in Ruijin Hospital. 

In 1994, the Second Medical University Clinical Medicine Education and Research Center was established. The Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council listed the University as a pilot unit for self-determined doctoral tutors. 

In 1996, the Continuing Education College of the Second Medical University was established. The Expert Review Committee organized by the Municipal Government conducted a partial pre-examination of the school’s application to enter the “211 Project” and agreed to include it in the project. 

In 1997, Shanghai Second Medical University agreed to list Shanghai Children’s Medical Center as a branch of Xinhua Hospital. 

In 1998, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Surgery and Shanghai Human Genome Research Center were established. Jiading Health School was incorporated into Shanghai Second Medical University Health School. 

In 1999, Shanghai Institute of Congenital Heart Disease in Children, Shanghai Second Medical University Pediatric Hematology Oncology Research Center, and “Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences Health Science Center” co-established by the University and Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences were founded one after another. The cooperation and merger of Ruijin Hospital, Luwan District Central Hospital, and Shanghai Municipal Hospital were officially launched. 

In 2000, the General Practice Training Center of Shanghai Second Medical University was established and held an unveiling ceremony. This is the first general practice training center in Shanghai. Shanghai Second Medical University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University co-established the Joint Institute of Medical Endophyte Engineering. 

In 2001, the Shanghai Mental Health Center and the Second Medical University formed a strong alliance to jointly build the Mental Health Clinical School. The Developmental Biology Research Center of Shanghai Second Medical University was established. The schooling system of Nursing was changed from five to four years. 

In 2002, the Sino-French Life Science and Genetic Research Center, the School of Public Health, and the School of Distance Education were established. The unveiling ceremony for the “Health Science Center” jointly established by the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Second Medical University was held. 

In 2003, the School of Nursing and the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center of Shanghai Second Medical University were established. 

In 2004, the Ministry of Education announced the first batch of national quality courses, which included “Histoembryology” lectured by Professor Wang Yifei and his colleagues of the Second Medical University. The Graduate School and the “School of Humanities and Health Management of Chinese Pharmacology” were established. The “Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences” jointly established by China and France, and the Sino-Australian Research and Training Center for Health Management Education were respectively inaugurated. A cooperation agreement between the Second Medical University and Monash University was also signed. “Sino-Finnish Medical Education Center” jointly established by the University and the Comprehensive University of Northern Central Finland was unveiled in Kokkola, Finland.

In 2005, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Second Medical University formally merged. The new Shanghai Jiao Tong University is a university directly under the Ministry of Education. Based on Shanghai Second Medical University and the former Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, the new Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was established. The Ministry of Education and the Municipal Government would jointly develop the new school. 

In the same year, the Medical Education Development and Research Center and the Second Medical University Biomedical Ethics Center were established. The affiliated Baosteel Hospital was renamed Affiliated Third People’s Hospital. The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission approved the former Shanghai Second Medical University School of Health Technology as an independent full-time higher education institution--Shanghai University of Medicine&Health Sciences, under the dual leadership of the Shanghai Education Commission and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. 

In June, the Medical Education Development and Research Center carried out the first acceptance check of education and teaching rectification for the secondary colleges and related departments of the Second Medical University since the teaching evaluation in 2003, when the developmental teaching evaluation system was adopted to evaluate the measures taken and effects achieved in all aspects of the University’s development.

In 2006, the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and “211 Project” construction projects of the School of Medicine accepted and passed the review and acceptance of the expert group. In the same year, the Digital Medicine Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was established. The School of Humanities and Health Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was renamed the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Public Health. Shanghai Mental Health Center, International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, and Chinese Welfare Association have officially become the affiliated hospitals of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. This year, the “Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery” course taught by Professor Zhang Zhiyuan and his colleagues from Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital affiliated to the School was listed as a national quality course. 

In 2007, the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai Stem Cell Institute, Department of Mental Hygiene, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Department of Pediatrics were established under the School of Medicine. Jiulong Hospital in Suzhou affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was opened. The Faculty of Forensic Medicine and the Institute of Medical Sciences under the School of Medicine held the unveiling ceremony respectively.

In 2008, Shanghai International Ostomy Therapist School was inaugurated in the School of Nursing. It was the first time for the University to try to jointly cultivate “MD+PhD” dual-degree students with foreign schools. Diseases of Oral Mucosa and Medical Imaging were also listed as national quality courses.