Dr. (later Sir) Patrick Manson (1844-1922) ('father of tropical medicine') was the first President (and Ronald Ross Vice-President) of the Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - which had been founded in 1907 by Mr. (later Sir) James Cantlie and Dr. George Carmichael Low. The objectives of the Society were originally to study and discuss diseases met with in tropical countries. Today the RSTMH is a multi-disciplinary Society whose focus is on international health as much as on classic tropical diseases. In 1920 the Society was granted permission to use the prefix "Royal" by George V and has an impact on research, good practice and advocacy for improved health worldwide.

The RSTMH moved to Manson House, 26 Portland Place - (designed by Robert Adam in 1778) in 1931; the first Ordinary Meeting held here took place in January 1932, and the House was officially opened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 17 March of that year. The second Royal visit to Manson House took place on the 150th anniversary of Manson's birth (3 October 1994) when HRH The Princess Royal opened the refurbished George Carmichael Low auditorium: there was a further visit from HRH the Princess Royal in 1999.

The RSTMH organises regular meetings on all aspects of medicine (and allied subjects) relating to infection(s) and other diseases with a high prevalence in warm climates. This remains a multidisciplinary society whose major orientation is moving away from the formal (colonial) discipline of tropical medicine to "medicine [international health] in the tropics". The Society's journal the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has been published regularly since 1907.