Nanjing Medical University was founded in 1934 as Jiangsu Provincial College of Health Policy and Management. In 1993, it was renamed Nanjing Medical University. It is one of the key universities sponsored by Jiangsu Province.

The university has two campuses, Wutai and Jiangning. Wutai Campus, located at the south foot of Wutai Hill in Gulou District, Nanjing, has a land area of eight hectares and is a center of clinical teaching and research. Jiangning Campus, located in the university town in Jiangning, Nanjing, has a land area of eighty-seven hectares and is a center of teaching and research.

The university consists of seventeen schools and one independent school (Kangda School). It has twenty-three affiliated hospitals and more than fifty teaching hospitals in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Shandong Provinces. Presently the university has more than fifteen hundred employees, including one academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, one “Chang Jiang Scholar” Distinguished Visiting Professor, two recruited global experts from the National “Thousand Talent” Program, six winners of the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists, one winner of the National Award for Distinguished Teachers, five winners of the funds from New Century Excellent Talent Support Program of the Ministry of Education, nine Jiangsu Specially-Appointed Professors, three “State-Level Teaching Teams”, and one “Innovation Team” from the Ministry of Education.

The university now has seven first-level discipline doctoral programs, eleven first-level discipline master’s programs, and six postdoctoral research stations. It also has three state-level key disciplines, one key discipline for state-level cultivation, two programs of state key discipline (first-level disciplines of Jiangsu) of cultivation and construction, and three key Jiangsu first-level disciplines. Four disciplines of the university – namely basic medicine, public health and preventive medicine, clinical medicine, and dental medicine – are Strong Disciplines of Jiangsu Colleges and Universities. The disciplines of clinical medicine and pharmacology and toxicology rank globally in the top one percent.

The university has seventeen undergraduate programs, two six-year dual bachelor's degree programs, and five seven-year programs. Currently it has more than 13,000 students. The university has formed a comprehensive and multi-level educational system that covers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as post-doctoral training, for full-time students, adults, and international students.

Nanjing Medical University now has one state-level key laboratory, four ministry-level key laboratories, and thirteen provincial-level key laboratories (engineering centers). It has developed five state-level excellent courses and thirteen provincial-level excellent courses. There are also five state-level featured programs, five provincial-level featured programs, three provincial-level brand programs and two state-level bilingual education model courses. The university has set up two state-level exemplary experiment teaching centers, nine provincial-level exemplary experiment teaching centers, and nineteen laboratories jointly funded by central and local governments. It also has a state-level experiment zone for innovation of talent cultivation modes.

In recent years, the university has extensively carried out exchange activities and has actively developed multi-model relationships and cooperation with other colleges and universities. It has established cooperation and academic exchange with medical colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Sweden, Japan, Taiwan Province, and Hong Kong SAR. In 2002 the university resumed the admission of international students and students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan; and it now has more than 500 such students.