UCIMED was founded in 1976 by surgeon and researcher Dr. Andrés Vesalio Guzmán Calleja, who was one of the original founders of the national medical school of Costa Rica. It was originally named Escuela Autónoma de Ciencias Médicas (Autonomous School of Medical Sciences). It started as an initiative that was championed by Dr. Guzmán and collaborators as a response to ideological differences between the authorities of the national university of Costa Rica known as the University of Costa Rica (UCR), which was the only university who offered a medical degree. The conflict originated in part because in this particular time access to learn medicine was reserved to individuals with a specific ideological trend.