1978 Shanghai Second Medical College officially submits the application for establishment of Shanghai Institute of Immunology.

1979 Shanghai Institute of Immunology (SII) is founded. It is the first research institute dedicated for the studies of immunology in China.

1980 The World Health Organization (WHO) designates SII as a collaboration center for Immunogenetics, which was later expanded as a collaboration center for Immunogenetics and Immunopathology.

1981 SII starts awarding master and doctoral degrees. The first journal of immunology in China, Shanghai Journal of Immunology (later renamed as Current Immunology), is launched at SII.

1986 SII becomes the Department of Immunology of the Second Medical University of Shanghai. The Division of Basic Immunology and Immuogenetics is incorporated into the newly formed department. Professor Baoli Ma，Guangyan Zhou and Hailiang Ge successively serves as chairman of the department.

1990 SII is selected as a key project of “the Programs for Key Discipline Construction” by Shanghai Municipal Government for five periods and won the Excellence Award for Key Discipline Construction.

2000 The Clinical Immunology Laboratory of SII (located in Renji Hospital) develops into the Shanghai Institute of Rheumatology, which later became Shanghai Clinical Medical Center for Rheumatology in 2002.

2003 SII leads the establishment of the Immunology Division for the E-Institutes of Shanghai Universities (EISU), which is the leading organization supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.

2006 The Ministry of Education selects SII as the “Innovative Research Team for Immunology”.

2013 The Immunology Program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University receives top 1% by Essential Science Indicators (ESI) Global Rankings for the first time.

2015 SII is selected as "Academic Special Zone" of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

2016 The first Scientific Advisory Board and Peer-review Meeting at Shanghai Institute of Immunology (SII).

2017 SII initiates Yu He Lecture and Yu He Award Series, in memory of the founder of SII, Professor He Yu.

2018 SII leads the launch of Joint Dual-Degree Ph.D. Program between Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine and enrolled international students.

2019 Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine - Yale University Institute of Immune Metabolism (SYIIM) is founded. SYIIM is the first entity research institute established by Yale University outside the United States.

2019 SII holds the Symposium on Strategic Development of Immunology on its 40th Anniversary.