Is the Melbourne MD a misnomer?

In reply: The Melbourne Medical School is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. However, the University of Melbourne awarded medical degrees as early as 1856, including the award of the MD degree ad eundem gradum to the acknowledged founder of the Medical School, Anthony Colling Brownless, on the basis of his MD from St Andrews University, Scotland, obtained by examination in 1847. The MD is a widely recognised medical qualification around the world, and at the University of Melbourne was awarded as a postgraduate clinical practice qualification into the 1960s. It is the subsequent use of the same term for a doctoral-level research qualification that has caused some confusion.