The procedure was depicted in Henry Ward's 2010 painting The 'Finger-Assisted' Nephrectomy of Professor Nadey Hakim', commissioned to raise awareness of legal organ donations.

In the same year, he received the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur at a ceremony held at the French Embassy in London.

His role in writing and editing have included producing over 23 textbooks and 150 peer-reviewed papers, being editor-in-chief of the International Surgery and an editorial board member for the journals Transplantation Proceedings and Graft.

As a musician, he plays the clarinet and his performances include the hymn 'Jerusalem', dedicated to the children of Lebanon, and in A Time Remembered as a tribute to Air France pilot, Michel Bacos.

He later recalled that while the city was under fire from bombs and rockets, "the thing I used to do was put my headphones on and listen to music because I played the clarinet.

"[3] He spent this time reading and learning languages, eventually nine in all including French, Italian, German, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese,[2] and fled Lebanon before completing school.

[4] Hakim is a laureate of Cochin Port Royal Hospital Medical School and received his MD from Paris Descartes University in 1984.

[6] In 1988, he completed a fellowship in gastrointestinal surgery from the Mayo Clinic,[2][6] before gaining an International College of Surgeons (ICS) travelling scholarship to the Soviet Union in 1989,[2][7] and then returning to London to finish his thesis on intestinal transplantation and receive his PhD from University College London in 1991.

[17] He revealed in an interview that one of the surgeons who inspired Hakim and whom he met, was the American Joseph Murray, who performed the first successful kidney transplantation in 1954, an operation involving two identical twins and the donor being live.

[19] During the visit, a Saudi team led by Faissal Shaheen from the Saudi Centre for Organ Transplantation, together with the Austrians, Robert Fitzgerald, Felix Stockenhuber and Annilies Fitzgerald, and Hakim who led Al Kaff's doctors from Aden, performed 10 operations, consisting of five living related kidney transplantations in one sitting over 20 hours, despite political instability and its near abandonment.

[23][24] In 2010 the procedure was depicted in a painting commissioned to raise awareness of legal organ donations, titled "The 'Finger-Assisted' Nephrectomy of Professor Nadey Hakim'", by Henry Ward, and was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London, as part of the BP Portrait Awards.

[28][29] Over the subsequent five days, a total of eight living related kidney transplantations were performed at the hospital, and all using the finger assisted technique.

[12][30][31][32] Hakim has been an advisor on transplantation issues to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence[23] and has been an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

The Wisconsin television programme Look-In, featured them both performing the hymn Jerusalem, on a CD entitled A Promise for Peace and dedicated to the children of Lebanon.

[5] In January 2016, he was appointed to the rank of Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by President Francois Hollande.