The Davao Medical School Foundation, Inc. (DMSFI) started in July 1976 to tackle the shortage of doctors in rural areas and specialists in the urban sectors. It was the first-ever medicine college to be established in Mindanao and its main aim is to provide quality medical education and training so that the medical facilities can develop in both the rural and urban areas.
The Davao Medical School Foundation's academic programs seek to equip students with the expertise, skills, and abilities that integrate specialized study in different academic fields with courses in the areas of medicine and dentistry, nursing, and midwifery, while equipping students for skilled jobs in a number of private and public sector areas. This is in accordance with the aim of the DMSF to shape a student through educational enrichment driven by the Catholic faith.
It has the following colleges: College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Nursing, College of Biology, and College of Midwifery. They have a scholarship system called the “Nellie Kellog Van Shaick Scholarship” to help solve the problems of insufficient medical manpower in rural areas, specifically in Mindanao, to provide financial support to deserving medical students who would otherwise find it difficult, if not impossible, to go through the DMSF for financial reasons, and to help build a strong DMSF faculty, particularly in basic sciences.