The Friends Medical Society was formed in 1950 at a small meeting of a group of Quaker physicians at Pendle Hill, the Quaker study center in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. The purposes of this group were to determine what special contributions Quaker doctors might offer at home and abroad, to work with the American Friends Service Committee and other organizations of a similar purpose to provide medical support, and to help medical personnel to serve in other than a military context. Membership was non-sectarian and was open to all physicians and medical students.

The organization was very informal, with no fixed dues and only a part time staff. The Society conducted various activities, and general meetings were held almost every year, in addition to four weekend conferences at Woolman Hill in Massachusetts. Officers of the Society testified against extension of the draft before Congressional committees and presented statements on important issues to Congress and the public. In 1961, the Friends Medical Foundation was formed as an extension of the FMS to raise funds for charitable, scientific, and educational activities of medical significance; it was dissolved in July, 1980.