Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM) was formerly known as Shanghai Second Medical College, which came into being through a merger of St. John’s University School of Medicine (1896-1952), Aurora University School of Medicine (1911-1952), and Tongde Medical College (1918-1952) in the nationwide reorganization of universities in 1952 and changed its name to Shanghai Second Medical University in 1985. In July 2005, Shanghai Second Medical University merged with Shanghai Jiao Tong University to establish a new key medical school, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, under the joint jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Shanghai municipal government.

SJTUSM has 25 secondary schools (departments) and 12 affiliated hospitals. There are 8 first-level disciplines authorized to offer doctoral degrees and 4 first-level disciplines to offer postdoctoral programs, which cover Biology, Basic Medicine, Clinical Medicine and Stomatology. SJTUSM runs an eight-year Clinical Medicine program (doctoral degree awarded), an eight-year Clinical Medicine program (doctoral degree in stomatology awarded), and 8 undergraduate programs (Clinical Medicine, Stomatology, Pediatrics, Biomedical Science, Preventive Healthcare, Medical Laboratory Technology, Food Safety and Nutrition, and Nursing). Among them, Clinical Medicine, Stomatology, Biomedical Science, Preventive Healthcare, Nursing, Pediatrics, and Medical Laboratory Technology are national first-class undergraduate programs; the eight-year Clinical Medicine program (French Class), the eight-year Clinical Medicine program (four-year master plus four-year doctoral), the five-year Clinical Medicine program (Pediatrics), and the five-year Clinical Medicine program (English Class) are specialty classes of SJTUSM. In 2019, SJTUSM passed the certification of the Clinical Medicine program by the Ministry of Education at a high level of quality. It was the only university in China that was inspected by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) expert group and was highly praised by both foreign and Chinese experts.

The school began to admit foreign students in 1967. Up to now, the school has enrolled more than 1000 international students from over 100 countries and regions of Asia, Africa, North and South Americas, Europe and Oceania. The School has established relations of collegiate and institutional interchange with 64 universities from 21 countries and regions, enhance the academic competence of its staff and faculty, promote the development of disciplines.