The vision behind the Hakim Family Innovation Prize is to promote and implement ideas, new processes or devices in health care that will have a tangible and meaningful impact on the patients entrusted to our care.
My hope is that the Hakim Family Innovation Prize will continue to inspire all future applicants and others across the Faculty and ۲ݮƵ to commit to innovation, because “we can always do better” for our patients.
RAYMOND HAKIM, MDCM’76
Dr. Raymond Hakim, MDCM, PhD, attended medical school at ۲ݮƵ University and performed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal). Prior to attending ۲ݮƵ University, Dr. Hakim received a M.S degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He worked as an engineer at Hydro-Quebec before returning to medical school.
Following his residency, at Royal Victoria Hospital, Dr. Hakim completed his renal fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, in Boston (1979-1981). He continued on the faculty of Harvard University until 1987 at which time he moved to Nashville, TN to become professor of medicine (Nephrology and Hypertension) at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Committed to medical leadership and adhering to the belief that “you can always do better”, Dr. Hakim was a key founder (1995) of the Renal Care Group, Inc. and was its executive vice president and chief medical officer. The company grew to serve more than 35,000 patients. His focus on improving patient outcomes resulted in the Renal Care Group achieving the lowest mortality among all dialysis providers. He then served as chief medical officer of Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), the largest provider of dialysis services in the United States, until December 2011 when he returned to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Hakim has published more than 200 scientific publications and was recently awarded the prestigious Belding H. Scribner Award by the American Society of Nephrology (2017), the Marquis Who’s Who in the World (2017), the Top Professor of Nephrology award by the International Association of Top Professionals (2018).