Southwest Medical University was established in 1951 and became a master's degree granting unit in 1993. In 2001, it began to jointly cultivate doctors. In 2004, it began to carry out education for undergraduates studying abroad. In 2010, it was approved to establish a post-doctoral research station. In 2015, it was renamed Southwest Medical University.

The school covers an area of 2011 acres. There are more than 18,000 undergraduates, postgraduates, and international students. There are more than 1,000 full-time teachers, including more than 300 doctors, nearly 300 full-time professors, and more than 300 associate professors. "Changjiang Scholar" chair professor, national "Hundred, Thousand, Thousand Talents Project" first and second level candidates, "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program", Sichuan Province "Hundred Talents Program", "Thousand Talents Program", and "Special Government Allowance of the State Council" There are more than 60 high-level talents of "Experts" and "Leaders of Academic Technology in Sichuan Province". There are 616 master supervisors and 22 doctoral supervisors.

The school focuses on medicine and covers 7 disciplines such as science. There are 7 first-level discipline authorization points for master's degree, 7 master degree authorization points, 28 general undergraduate majors, including 3 national specialty majors, and provincial applied type There are 3 demonstration majors and 5 double-degree majors. In 2014, the school was included in the construction plan for the establishment of a new doctoral degree-granting unit in Sichuan Province, and was included in the establishment of the construction unit in 2016. Clinical medicine is the top 1% discipline in the world by ESI. Undertook 4 national-level talent training model reform projects including "the first batch of postgraduate training model reform for clinical medicine master degree of the Ministry of Education"; the past two teachers have won 10 provincial and ministerial teaching achievement awards, including 3 first prizes; Teachers have published more than 700 teaching and research papers.

The school has 12 key scientific research platforms at the provincial and ministerial level, including the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education and the National Postdoctoral Research Workstation, one provincial university science park, and 18 provincial and departmental scientific research teams. The lead unit of the Innovation Center.

The school has continuously strengthened foreign exchanges and cooperation, and has established international scientific and technological cooperation and exchange relations with 23 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. International academic conferences such as "China Wine City International Cardiovascular Research High-end Forum" and "Oncology Medicine High-end Symposium" were held. He has trained nearly 450 post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students for Pakistan, India and other countries, and promoted the “Belt and Road” construction through scientific research exchanges and talent training.

The school is a model school governing schools in accordance with the law in Sichuan Province and a model school for education informatization of higher education in Sichuan Province. The library is an excellent library for automation and network construction in Sichuan Province.

The three directly affiliated hospitals serve the health of nearly 40 million people in the Sichuan-Dunnan-Guizhou-Chongqing joint area. They have played an irreplaceable role in major public health emergencies such as the “5•12 Earthquake” and the fight against “SARS”. Government commendation; its clinical scientific research results are promoted and applied throughout the province or nationwide, and it is a provincial-level medical center combining the four southwestern provinces.