The museum was founded as a private institution in 1907, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Danish Medical Association. In 1917, the University of Copenhagen assumed control of the collections, and today the museum is a part of the Institute of Public Health at the university''s Faculty of Health Sciences.
In 1946, the museum moved into the building complex at 60-62 Bredgade street, which houses the Royal Danish Surgical Academy (1787), Titkens Gaard (1754) and the Physiology Institute (1867). These buildings had earlier housed the entire Faculty of Medicine and constituted, along with the Royal Frederik''s Hospital (1756), the centre of the study of medicine in Denmark until the University of Aarhus was founded.
The Royal Surgical Academy was founded in 1785 by King Christian VII, as an independent institution dedicated to the education of surgeons. The task of designing the academy building was assigned to Peter Meyn (1749-1808), and the building was inaugurated on 25 October 1787. Instruction began the very next day. Beginning in the 1820s, students were examined in both surgery and medicine - the time when the two doctor''s training programmes were kept separate was over. On 1 January 1842, the Surgical Academy ceased to be an independent institution, and its furnishings and equipment, collections of studies and funding were transferred to the University of Copenhagen. The Faculty of Health Sciences was thus created.
The Medicinhistorisk Museum communicates knowledge about the history of medicine, the study of the preparation of medicines and dentistry, by means of public exhibitions, publications, lectures and other museum-related activities. The museum also participates in the faculty''s research and instructional efforts.