The mission of the School of Medicine is to contribute to knowledge and to produce graduates with practical and intellectual skills appropriate to the needs of present and future Kenyan society. The School of Medicine strives to ensure that the students acquire such skills using modalities that encourage active learning in the context in which they will later function as health professionals.

The philosophy of the School entails training a health professional in the context, the community, in which he/she will later practise. It encourages the student to acquire the important skills of self-directed learning, problem–solving and effective communication. Moreover, the School emphasizes not only curative, hospital-based medicine, but also, through its community oriented approach, prevention of diseases and promotion of good health.