Historically, the department, under different names, has existed since May 1932, when the Department of Military Sanitary Disciplines was established at the Kharkiv Medical Institute. With the outbreak of World War II, in September 1941, as part of the institute, the department was evacuated to the city of Chkalov (now Orenburg). Since 1948 the department has been called the Department of Special Training, since 1954 it has been renamed the Military of Department. In 1996, the department was renamed the Department of Extreme Situations and Military Medicine, and since 2003 the department has been renamed the Department of Medicine of Catastrophes and Military Medicine.