The nominating period for the 2025 University Lecture is now open.
To nominate a BU faculty member for this honor, please complete and submit this online form. The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 4, 2025.
The University Lecture was established in 1950 to honor members of the Boston University faculty engaged in outstanding research and creative pursuits. University Lecturers represent a vast array of disciplines and research topics, yet they share a common commitment to excellence in scholarly inquiry and discovery. Presented each fall, the annual lecture provides an opportunity to highlight the work of a distinguished scholar and engage both the University community and the broader public in the vibrant intellectual life of Boston University.
Each spring, all members of the faculty are invited to make nominations for the subsequent year’s lecturer to the University Lecture Committee. The selection process for the lecture is designed to seek the input of a broad cross section of the University community.
* Boston University strives to be accessible, inclusive, and diverse in our facilities, programming, and academic offerings. Your experience in this event is important to us. ASL interpreters and Live Captioning Services will be provided.
2024 University Lecture
Why Not Better and Cheaper? Healthcare and Innovation
Presented by James Rebitzer,
Peter and Deborah Weller Professor of Management
Questrom School of Business
November 12, 2024
7:30 pm
Tsai Performance Center
685 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts
RSVP
James Rebitzer is the Peter and Deborah Wexler Professor of Management at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, where he was the founding chair of the Department of Markets, Public Policy, and Law. Rebitzer was previously the Mannix Professor of Healthcare Finance and Economics and chair of the economics department at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University. Before that, Rebitzer was an associate professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and an assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin.
Rebitzer’s research and teaching at BU focus on managerial issues in the US health sector, especially the economics of financial and non-financial incentives for physicians and other key players in the US healthcare system. He has also published papers on the causes and consequences of fragmentation in healthcare delivery systems and insurance markets. Most recently, Rebitzer published a book on technological and organizational innovation in the health sector. He is also working on a project analyzing the economics of pharmacy benefit managers. At BU, Rebitzer has taught courses on the economics of managerial decision-making and strategy, as well as classes on strategy, economics, and policy in the US health sector. Prior to BU, Rebitzer taught courses on a variety of applied microeconomics topics including labor economics, organizational economics, and human resource management.
Rebitzer’s research has received the Health Care Research Award from the National Institute of Health Care Management and the Kenneth J. Arrow Award from the International Health Economics Association. He is currently a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor. He also has a courtesy appointment in BU’s economics department.
Watch the Lecture:
Recent Lectures