Lazar J. Greenfield, professor emeritus of surgery at the University of Michigan School of Medicine has resigned his position as president-elect of the American College of Surgeons. Greenfield resigned due to a controversy surrounding his authorship of a Valentine’s Day editorial in which he asserted that semen had a beneficial effect on the mood of women. Dr. Greenfield cited research that claims that female college students who had unprotected sex were happier than college-aged women who had sex with men who used condoms. He speculated that semen contained compounds that acted as antidepressants. The editorial concluded, “So there’s a deeper bond between men and women than St. Valentine would have suspected, and now we know there’s a better gift for that day than chocolates.”
Due to Greenfield’s resignation, the new president elect of the American College of Surgeons is Patricia J. Numann, professor emerita of surgery at the State University of New York at Syracuse. Dr. Numann joined the faculty at SUNY Upstate in 1970. An endowed chair and the breast cancer treatment center at the university have been named in her honor.