Kalilah Allen-Harris earned the bachelor’s degree from UT in 2006 and entered Meharry Medical School to study to be an orthopedic surgeon. An honor student in business administration, a presidential scholar, Miss Homecoming 2005, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and honorary sororities Gamma Beta Phi and Phi Eta Sigma, she also volunteered at the Walter P. Taylor Boys and Girls Club while at UT. In May 2006 she was named Miss Black Tennessee in the 2007 Miss Black USA Pageant, which is a production of the Miss Black USA Pageant and Scholarship Foundation. The pageant’s mission is to maintain a tradition of recognizing the achievements of outstanding young women of color and to celebrate the whole woman—mind, body, and spirit.
Following May preliminaries in Arlington, Virginia, the pageant was held in June in Gambia, where the contestants learned African history and culture along with competing in the June event. Allen-Harris was named Miss Black USA for 2007.
In her first year at Meharry, she became class historian, a member of the American Medical Association, the Student National Medical Association, the Surgery Club, Internal Medicine Club, and Cardio-Pulmonary Club. She also tutored Somali refugees.