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Falah N. Rashoka, MS, BSN, CPH

📁 Rashoka CV

Brief Bio

Mr. Falah Nayif Rashoka is a second-year doctoral student (Ph.D.) in the Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is pursuing a second in-person master’s degree (MPH) in the College of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion at the University of Nebraska Medical Center as an intercampus student. He completed his first Master’s degree (M.S.) in May 2020 through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln earned a Certificate in Public Health (CPH) in May 2021 from the College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center. Mr. Rashoka holds a BSN from the University of Duhok, College of Nursing Science from 2014. 

Rashoka has served the U.S. Army in Iraq as a translator and cultural advisor in 2009. Later on, after moving permanently to the U.S. in 2016, he worked for the Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department for two years. There, he served Lancaster county residents with vaccinations, WIC translation, and home visits to low-income families with children to educate them about a healthy lifestyle and resources available in the city of Lincoln. In Fall 2018, Rashoka started at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a Graduate Research Assistant; he worked at Dr. Megan Kelley’s lab on several research projects with marginalized communities and continues in his role. At the beginning of COVID-19, he volunteered with the health department and Student Response Team to help contact tracing patients with COVID-19, and his volunteer work has been published in Harvard Public Health Review and CDC. Also, he volunteered with the New Americans Task Force in Lincoln to create a road map for skilled refugees and immigrants in Nebraska to get back to their professional jobs. Mr. Rashoka’s volunteer work and public health work during the COVID-19 pandemic was highlighted by 10/11 News Tv Channel, Voice of America (VOA), and Nebraska Today. His research involves community-based participatory studies and community health interventions. Mr. Rashoka is experienced in teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He taught two courses in the mid of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 160 students.  

Research Interests

Health Disparities; Infectious Diseases; Health Promotion; Ecological Approaches; Marginalized Communities; Human Nutrition; Chronic Disease; Refugee Health 

Teaching Experience

  • Instructor, Human Nutrition and Metabolism (undergraduate)
  • Teaching Assistant, Community Nutrition (graduate)

Professional Memberships

  • American Public Health Association (APHA)
  • Public Health Association of Nebraska (PHAN)

Awards

  • Elinor Kerrey Excellence Fellowship (May 2021, June 2020)
    Department of Nutrition & Health Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Patte L. Martin Scholarship (May 2021)
    College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center
  • Karen E. Craig Fellowship (March 2021)
    College of Education & Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Marjorie Engelkemier Memorial Fellowship (May 2019)
    Department of Nutrition & Health Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln