After scoring in the top 5 on the national baccalaureate exam of Iraq, Wakil earned a scholarship to the American University of Beirut.
[1] During his short tenure at UWM, Wakil conducted experiments that led to the finding that fatty acids are synthesized by a pathway distinct from the reverse of their oxidation.
[5] While at Duke, Wakil identified individual enzymes forming the pathways for fatty acid synthesis in Escherichia coli.
[8] Wakil eventually left Duke in 1971 to become the chairman of the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry at Baylor College of Medicine upon being recruited by Michael E.
[10] In 2010, Wakil, Motonari Uesugi, and Lutfi Abu-Elheiga, founded FGH BioTech, Inc. to develop novel technology regulating fat and energy metabolism.