The antecedent of our University was conceptualized in the mid-1960s by University History the late Dr. Homer Cheng. Trained in Western medicine at the University of Maryland, with a clinic in Los Angeles devoted to rehabilitation medicine, Dr. Cheng realized that the medicine of his ancestors could more effectively treat many of the conditions he saw in his patients. As he and his colleagues learned more about the efficacy of acupuncture, Chinese herbology and other Asian techniques, the need to establish a training center in these modalities became apparent. Dr. Cheng believed that such a center must serve to bring Oriental medicine not only to other Western medical practitioners, but to students seeking courses of study in complementary health careers. He and his colleagues believed that this new career must have a firm foundation in Western basic and clinical sciences. Samra University derives its name from the acronym of its parent, the Sino-American Medical Rehabilitation Association, formally chartered in 1969. Branches of the Association's SAMRA Institute of the Healing Arts were also established in Hong Kong, Kowloon, Malaysia and England. By 1972 a training center was also operating in Philadelphia, but these satellites are no longer operating. Their original purpose was to train medical missionaries working in Third World areas in the principles and techniques of Oriental Medicine believing this to be an inexpensive way to augment treatment in economically depressed areas of the world. As the Institute grew in size and reputation, its name, too, evolved.

By 1975, SAMRA had established a Research Institute of Therapeutics and Acupuncture (RITA), with a Healing Arts Center in Los Angeles. It no longer restricted its educational activities to ordained ministers and others. In 1979 it became the first Acupuncture School in California to be approved by the State Medical Board, Division of Allied Health Professions and the first to be authorized by the State Department of Education to offer certificates of study and to grant degrees in Oriental Medicine. In 1984 it was granted candidacy for Accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and received full accreditation in 1989.

The objectives of the University have evolved over the years of its history, yet every effort is made to retain the essence of the objectives of its founders. Those that cannot be given attention at this time are still reserved for future times when conditions allow for their expression.