Established in 1553 as part of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, it is one of the oldest medical schools in the Americas.

The origin of the School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, known by the acronym UNAM) dates back to the 16th century, with the foundation of the Royal and Pontifical Mexico University (Spanish: Real y Pontificia Universidad de México).

Following the closing of the university by Valentín Gómez Farías in 1883 the school survived in the form of several departments in charge of teaching medicine.

It holds the Graduate program in medicine (MD) called "Titulo de Medico Cirujano" (Physician-Surgeon Diploma).

The school also is in charge of the National Exam of Medical Residencies (ENARM), which means that if any MD in Mexico wants to apply for a residency, they should apply to this school, it is regarded to be very hard, and students some times take a full year of study in order to pass it.

[2] The school has two Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholars and endowment from the NIH extramural research program.