individuals but entire generations. Her tenacity and dedication are extraordinary, and her fortitude is unmatched. The success of the pipeline program is a direct reflection of her vision and unwavering commitment to materialize what Dr. Myra Hurt envisioned.”
Guzman is one of 10 alumni named to the Medical Hall of Fame this year, along with Rashad J. Sullivan, M. D.( Class of ' 13), an orthopedic surgeon practicing in Alexandria, Louisiana. He was a pre-med student at FAMU when he got involved with USSTRIDE, and worked for the program for a couple of years as he prepared to apply to medical school.
“ The support I got from Dr. Anderson, Dr. Hurt, Dr. Liz Foster was invaluable. They changed my life,” said Sullivan, who was one of the speakers at a celebration of Hurt’ s life after she died in 2023.“ I failed the MCAT the first time I took it, and I was really down about it. Dr. Anderson looked me in the eye and said,‘ You know you can do this, so how are you going to fix it?’ Her faith in me lifted me up and set me back on course when I was losing faith in myself.
“ Now that she’ s retiring, I know the program she built will continue, but I feel really bad for the SSTRIDE students of the future who will not know her and feel that love.”
Alma Littles, M. D., dean of the FSU College of Medicine, said Berne-Anderson leaves a lasting legacy.
Thesla Berne-Anderson received FSU’ s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award in 2019. Pictured, from left, are Joedrecka Brown Speights, M. D., Helen Livingston, Ed. D., Berne-Anderson, now Ed. D., and then-College of Medicine Dean John Fogarty, M. D., now dean-emeritus.
“ I have to first thank Myra for her vision because creating some sort of pathway was her vision, but I also have to thank her for her vision of me at the time she hired me,” she said.“ She basically helped me shape a successful career, one that has been a pleasure, helped me develop professionally and personally, and built up my passion for student advocacy.”
Berne-Anderson also thanked Livingston, noting that while Hurt had the vision, Livingston was her role model and mentor.
Anthony Speights, M. D., senior associate dean for Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences who oversees the undergraduate IMS program, the Bridge to Clinical Medicine and the other pathway programs, agreed that Hurt and Livingston were key to developing the college’ s programs, but he said,“ Dr. Berne-Anderson was the driving force.”
“ What Dr. Berne-Anderson and her team built through SSTRIDE and USSTRIDE didn’ t just open doors, it changed the way we think about pathway programs entirely,” she said.“ These initiatives have become models of what early intervention and long-term mentoring should look like.
“ We’ ve seen students who may have never imagined themselves in medicine become physicians, researchers and leaders in their communities.”
Berne-Anderson credits Myra Hurt.
“ She dedicated 30 years to creating programs that have become synonymous with pathways for mission-focused students to reach FSU, the College of Medicine and top health care programs across the country,” Speights said.
“ Beyond creating programs, she provided direct mentorship to any student who needed guidance, not just those at FSU or in the pre-college programs. Her dedication to the programs will be missed and she will be hard to replace, but her legacy will live on, both in the programs she created and in the thousands of lives she impacted, both directly and indirectly over her career.”
46 FSUMED | MED. FSU. EDU