The roots of today's Faculty of Medicine can be traced back to 1907, when the founding of the Academy of Practical Medicine laid the groundwork for the short-term and improvised start of clinical teaching operations.  The site can be seen on a postcard from 1909.

The history of Düsseldorf's university medicine also includes the period of National Socialism and the Second World War. The expulsion of Jewish employees, the destruction of the war, the reconstruction and also the post-war phase require the academic examination of this time and its consequences. The Faculty of Medicine sees this as an enduring responsibility.

The founding of the University of Düsseldorf in 1965 is closely linked to the General Municipal Hospitals (Allgemeine Städtische Krankenanstalten), which had already been open since 1907, the forerunner of today's University Hospital Düsseldorf and often referred to as the "nucleus" of the University of Düsseldorf.  At the beginning of 1966, therefore, a new Faculty of Medicine was inevitably established alongside the new Faculty of Natural Sciences and Philosophy, which absorbed the mass of the existing chairs.

In 1988, the name of the university was given the addition "Heinrich-Heine-".
_{(Halling, Thorsten; Vögele, Jörg (Hrsg.): 100 Jahre Hochschulmedizin 1907 - 2007, Düsseldorf, 2007)}