The predecessor of the Medical School of Nanjing University was the medical school of National Central University, which was founded in 1935, and the university was given its current name in 1949. The school was assimilated into the People s Liberation Army (PLA) in 1951 and re-established in 1987 at the approval of the State Ministry of Education as the first medical school of a comprehensive university directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education.