[2] The university traces its history from Hunan Chinese Medicine Specialty School established in 1934 and Hunan TCM Vocational School established in 1953.

The current Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was officially created and approved by the State Ministry of Education in 2006 when this TCM College had successfully merged with the former Hunan University of Science and Technology and the Hunan Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (research-focused).

The University, as it stands now, is primarily a teaching-oriented medical school, but also involved heavily in TCM research, providing health-care services to the province, and is one of the leading TCM universities in China.

On December 28, 2018, President Tan Yuansheng (Chinese: 谭元生) has been stripped of his post and party membership for alleged "serious violations of discipline and laws.

The campus covers an area of 4701 acres or approximately 1,902,6000 square meters.