The painting uses Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) as a reference, showing Hakim surrounded by the modern presidents and members of the International College of Surgeons in Chicago.

With the co-operation of Nadey Hakim, he planned to recreate the painting using the modern presidents and key members of the International College of Surgeons in order to highlight the global requirement for live, legal, organ donors.

[1][2][3] Hakim, who Ward had met when they were both members of the British Red Cross's International Fundraising Committee in 2004, already knew of the painting and had used it on the cover of one of his medical papers.

[4][5] The surgeons shown are, from left to right, Said Dee, Arno Roscher, Earl Owen, Rocco Maruotti, Christopher Chen, Nadey Hakim, John Fournier, George Fayad, Adel Ramzy, Biagio Ravo and Refaat Kamel.

[4] Ward decided to paint the surgeons in business suits to follow the example of Rembrandt whose subjects are in contemporary dress, and because if he had used surgical scrubs there would have been little to distinguish them.