The Italian Secretariate of Medical Students (SISM) was founded officially in 1970 but it was present in some Italian universities already since 1944. It is a member of IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students' Association) that is an international forum of medical students officially in connection with World Health Organization.

Currently there are about 4000 members of SISM, it is present in 30 Italian Universities homogeneously distributed across the national territory; this makes it the largest Italian category association.