The Indiana University School of Medicine was founded in 1903 and its first students were enrolled on the Bloomington campus. The school awarded the Doctor of Medicine degree to its first class of 25 in 1907. Following the union of all medical schools in the state with Indiana University in 1908, the General Assembly of the State of Indiana mandated in 1909 that IU assume the sole responsibility for physician education in the state. Initially, students had the opportunity of taking the first two years of medical school at either the Bloomington or Indianapolis campuses. In 1912 all students entered through the Bloomington program and moved to Indianapolis for their second, third, and fourth year courses. This arrangement remained in effect until 1958, when some of the work of the Bloomington division was transferred to Indianapolis while excellent facilities for teaching the basic medical sciences and a strong nucleus of basic science faculty remained in Bloomington. Consequently, The Medical Sciences Program, a new experimental program of medical education, was started in Bloomington in cooperation with the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School in 1959. This program included curriculum that enabled students to earn combined M.D./M.S. and M.D./Ph.D. degrees.

In 1967, the Indiana State General Assembly appropriated funds for a comprehensive plan for medical education throughout the state. Using both regional facilities and those of the Medical Center, the plan involved community hospitals, practicing physicians, internship and residency programs, and continuing medical education programs. In 1971 the program was expanded to include a statewide system of decentralized first-year medical education. Also in 1971, the IU School of Medicine assumed responsibility for selection, admission and assignment of students, curriculum development and evaluation, and accreditation of the system at its main campus in Indianapolis. The institutions now involved in this program, in addition to the Medical Services Program at Bloomington, are Purdue University, University of Notre Dame, Ball State University, Indiana State University, University of Southern Indiana, Indiana University-Northwest, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. By 1980, all but one of these Centers for Medical Education had received funding for programs for second-year students. By 1990, funding was in place for all of them.

Today approximately more than half of Indiana's physicians have received most or part of their education from the IU School of Medicine. The IU School of Medicine has more than 60 clinical departments and specialty divisions and is a part of the Indiana University Medical Center and is located on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). The Medical Center includes several teaching hospitals, some of which are administered by Clarian Health Partners. In addition, the IU School of Medicine manages patient care under contract at Wishard Health Services, serving Marion County, and has cooperative arrangements with the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center and Indiana's Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital. The IU School of Medicine maintains instructional and research activities at all of these institutions. IU opened its first hospital in Indianapolis in 1914. Since then, its health care facilities have admitted hundreds of thousands of patients on referral by physicians from across the state, treating Hoosiers with the most serious and complex cases. The IU Medical Center also hosts clinical studies by nationally and internationally recognized research institutes and centers of excellence.

The IU School of Medicine is nationally evaluated and accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) of the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association. The most recent self-study was in September of 1994 and in February 1995, the LCME voted to confer continuing full accreditation of the IU School of Medicine for the now-standard term of seven years.

For more information on the advantages of educational and research experiences at the Indiana University School of Medicine, visit medicine.iu.edu.