The School of Basic Medicine has a long and rich history. Its origins can be traced back to 1946 when the National Shandong University Medical College was established. Under the leadership of renowned medical professors such as Shen Fupeng, Xu Zuoxia, Lv Yunming, Tian Haoquan, Ma Xiancheng and Cai Liangwan, several foundational medical teaching units were established, including Departments of Human Anatomy and Histology & Embryology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathogenic Biology, and Biochemistry. In 1956, the Shandong University Medical College became an independent institution, establishing the Qingdao Medical College, which included a basic teaching department. In 1993, Qingdao University merged with Qingdao Medical College, Shandong Textile Engineering College and Qingdao Normal School to establish the new Qingdao University. In 2000, Qingdao University established the College of Basic Medical Sciences, which was renamed the School of Basic Medicine in 2016. Thanks to the joint efforts of generations of faculty and staff, the school has achieved significant development and has become one of the largest education and research units in the university.

The school currently has a faculty of 136 members, including 29 professors and 48 associate professors. Among the full-time teachers, 86.7% hold doctoral degrees. The faculty includes three national high-level talents, such as Changjiang Scholars and National Excellent Youths, one member of the State Council Academic Committee Discipline Evaluation Group, one National Excellent Teacher, nine provincial high-level talents such as Taishan Scholars and Provincial Outstanding Contributors, three Shandong Provincial Teaching Masters, two Shandong Provincial Excellent Graduate Supervisors, one Shandong Provincial Excellent Innovation Team, one Shandong Provincial Teaching Team, and four Shandong Provincial Higher Education Youth Innovation Teams.

The school is committed to building first-class disciplines and has made solid progress in the construction of degree programs. It currently has three first-level discipline doctoral programs and post-doctoral stations in Basic Medicine, Special Medicine and Biology. There are 30 doctoral supervisors and over 110 master's supervisors, with 494 doctoral and master's students currently enrolled. Basic Medicine has been selected as a high-level construction discipline in Shandong Province, and Biology has been approved as a first-class construction discipline in Shandong Province. The school also has a national key discipline (under cultivation) in Physiology, and two provincial key disciplines in Human Anatomy and Pathogenic Biology. The school supports several disciplines at Qingdao University in entering the global top 1% of ESI rankings, including Genetics and Molecular Biology, Biology and Biochemistry, Neuroscience and Behavior, and Pharmacology and Toxicology.

The research focuses on the basic mechanisms and prevention strategies of major and common diseases, with key research areas including the pathogenesis and prevention strategies of neurodegenerative diseases, molecular mechanisms and translational medicine of cardiovascular diseases, tumor pathogenesis and treatment, pathogenesis of diseases related to pathogenic microorganisms, immune cell therapy, and new vaccine development. The school has several research platforms, including the Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Neurorelated Disease Mechanisms and Prevention, the Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Neuroscience, and the Shandong Provincial Molecular Virology Laboratory. In the past five years, the school has undertaken nearly 100 national and provincial research projects, with research results published in prestigious journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Cell Biology, Molecular Cell, and Nature Communications. The school has established the Brain Science and Disease Research Institute, the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research Institute, and the Special Medicine Research Institute based on its advantageous research areas and talent teams.

The school has 10 departments and teaching units, and a Basic Medical Experiment Teaching Center. The center is a jointly established basic laboratory by the central and local governments, a Shandong Provincial Higher Education Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, and a National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center. It includes sub-centers for Human Morphology, Human Microstructure, Pathogenic Biology, Human Function, and Cell and Molecular Biology. The school remains committed to fostering virtues and talents, aiming to cultivate outstanding medical talents with comprehensive development in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education. The school undertakes the teaching of over 80 theoretical courses and more than 300 experimental courses for over 10 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in Clinical Medicine, Medical Laboratory Science, Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dental Medicine. Each year, the school completes approximately 20,000 hours of teaching tasks. The "Imaging Anatomy" course has been recognized as a national excellent course and a national excellent resource sharing course, while the "Physiology" course is a national bilingual demonstration course. The school has one national first-class undergraduate construction course, eight provincial first-class undergraduate construction courses, and one provincial quality graduate course. In the past five years, the school has undertaken 10 provincial and ministerial teaching reform projects, including major sub-projects of Shandong Provincial Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research and Ministry of Education Industry-University Collaboration Education Projects, and has participated in or edited two national planning textbooks, winning three provincial teaching achievement first prizes and five second prizes.

The school upholds its fine tradition of teaching, research, and talent cultivation, building a good reputation and influence both domestically and internationally. All faculty and staff adhere to the principles of "Teaching as the foundation, Academic as the key, Talent as the core, Management by the system, and Culture as the honor." With teaching as the core, discipline construction as the lead, talent team construction as the key, scientific research as the guide, and serving the local community as the mission, the school promotes refined management, cultivates and condenses the spirit of basic medicine, accelerates the construction of "double first-class" disciplines, and strives for connotative, characteristic, and coordinated development. The school aims to become a basic medical school with significant influence in China and strives to contribute to the construction of a high-level research university.