Part of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen, its principal area of interest is the recent history of the material and iconographic culture of biomedicine.

The museum was then located in the Rigsdag building in Fredericiagade, which now houses the High Court of Eastern Denmark, but moved to its current premises in 1947.

The museum is based in a Neoclassical building from 1787 designed by Peter Meyn which used to house Academy of Surgery, an institution which was responsible for the education of surgeons in Copenhagen between 1785 and 1842.

After graduation, most spread out across the country as doctors or surgeons, while others continued their studies and became researchers - some receiving Nobel prizes.

The inscription on the back wall says that he founded the Academy "out of concern for the health of the citizens for the immortal honour of the realm".