Great Grad: Meet Rebeka Moges, Public Health Major
Each year, to celebrate commencement, Cal Poly highlights a group of “Great Grads”: A student from each of the six colleges and the Cal Poly Maritime Academy who are completing an outstanding academic journey and moving on to the next phase of their lives. Rebeka Moges is our Great Grad from the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics.
Health is Rebeka Moges’ passion and likely her future.
“My goal is a career in public health focused on sexual and reproductive health, with a particular interest in maternal and child health,” she said. “I hope to contribute to improving health equity and expanding access to care for underserved communities.”
The first-generation college student started her quest in sophomore year at Cal Poly, when her grades nudged below B level. Doctors said she had attention-deficit disorder, a common neurodevelopmental disorder; the inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity is typically diagnosed in elementary school.
“That changed a lot for me,” she said. “Once I better understood how my brain worked and got the support I needed, I noticed a big difference in my focus, alertness and overall academic performance.”
She refocused her studies from biochemistry to personal health, a transition that helped her thrive personally and academically. Moges went on to make the Dean’s List for academic excellence six times, and the Santa Monica resident will likely graduate in the top quarter of the Class of 2026, her faculty supporters predict.
“When I first came to Cal Poly, I did not fully know who I was or what I was truly passionate about,” she said. “I came in on the pre-med track, because I knew I wanted to help others — but at the time thought the only way to do that was by becoming a doctor. During my time here, I discovered a passion for public health and research, which were areas I had not been involved in before.”
The loss of her mother at a very young age helped shape Moges’ interest in public health and maternal and child health. Additionally, seeing others around her in Ethiopia face limited access to healthcare, including pregnancy and postpartum complications, made these issues feel deeply personal to her.
“It also opened my eyes to the disparities that exist in the United States, especially for Black women, and inspired me to pursue a path focused on maternal and child health,” she said. “According to the CDC, Black women in the U.S. continue to face significantly higher rates of pregnancy-related death compared to white women, which further motivated my interest in maternal and child health.”
Cal Poly offered a “perfect balance” when it was time to pick a college: close enough to visit family, yet with distance so she could grow independently. More importantly, while touring the campus, she embraced “the friendly and welcoming environment” as well as its approach to educating students.
By building meaningful relationships with her educators, professors morphed into mentors and ultimately supporters.
“Learn by Doing made my classes feel more meaningful and helped me perform better academically,” the 21-year-old said. “I started as a student assistant and later became involved in research with Dr. Adrienne Lent, an assistant professor in the Kinesiology and Public Health Department, where I learned valuable skills that supported me in my future public health classes, including data coding. That experience has also shaped my future goals, because I now hope to continue working in research throughout my master’s program and eventually through my thesis.”
Moges also credits Phil Bailey as a major source of inspiration throughout her time at Cal Poly. Bailey — dean emeritus of the college that was renamed in 2023 to honor the joint accomplishments of Bailey and his late wife and former professor, Tina — has been deeply inspiring through his dedication and commitment to helping students succeed.
Classes offered Moges new challenges and opportunities as well.
“In my microbiology class, with Dr. Nathaniel Martinez, I found staining techniques especially interesting because they are skills I could use in a future lab setting,” Moges said. “In my human anatomy class with Dr. Micheal Jones, working with a cadaver was an amazing way to apply what I was learning in class. That hands-on learning made everything feel more real and helped me grow more confident in my abilities.
Those experiences further motivated her interest in healthcare and later work as a medical assistant, where she realized the impact she could have through patient care. She also contributed to Bailey College and the university through such roles as mentoring and training other mentors for the Cal Poly Scholars program, the college’s Ambassadors Program and giving tours to prospective students and become an effective role model.
She gained experience through two campus programs that included chances for research, educational funding and mentoring for underrepresented students. Another opportunity landed Moges an internship in 2025 at the Promoting Health and Addressing Nicotine, or PHAN, Lab at Drexel University, a private research institution in Philadelphia. That summer she helped research tobacco prevention and control, and related health disparities.
Her biggest accomplishment involved a two-year project and a paper that was published in January in the peer-reviewed Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and Tobacco Use Insights. Moges received the coveted first author credit for “The Association Between Smoker Protection Laws and Smoking, Employment, and Attempting to Quit Smoking,” an honor recognizing that she provided the greatest intellectual contribution to the research.
“After putting so much time, energy and heart into it, seeing it through to the end was incredibly
rewarding,” she said. “It taught me the importance of persistence and believing in your work, even when the first answer is no.”
She also anticipates being first author on a manuscript to be submitted regarding relative rates of insurance coverage among various ethnic groups to be published in another journal later this year.
After graduation, Moges will continue her education at Brown University in Rhode Island, in pursuit of a Master of Public Health degree as a Health Equity Scholar on a full-ride scholarship to the private Ivy League school. Her master’s program aims to create leaders who will use their training to transform public health research and practice to address deep disparities in health systems and outcomes.
Upon finishing her master’s degree, Moges hopes to apply to nursing school to become a neonatal nurse practitioner, combining her background in public health with clinical care to better support maternal and child health outcomes.
“Through my opportunities here, I was able to contribute to research, publish my work and attend academic conferences,” she said. “Those experiences helped me build confidence in my abilities as a student and researcher. In addition, the support of my professors and the rigor of my coursework helped prepare me for the next step in my education.”
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