The Waking Dream: The Science Behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vineeth John, MD & Ezekiel Hinojosa, MD (1 hr)
Description
In the stormy summer of 1816, an eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley had a dream that changed literature forever. From that single visionary moment emerged Frankenstein, one of history's most enduring explorations of imagination, creation, and the boundaries of human invention.
In this richly illustrated lecture, Dr. Vineeth John and Dr. Ezekiel Hinojosa trace the psychological, neuroscientific, and cultural forces that gave birth to Frankenstein. Drawing from Shelley's own journals and the novel itself, he explores how grief, intellectual rivalry, scientific discovery, and cultural upheaval converged to ignite one of the most extraordinary acts of creative imagination ever recorded.
Through contemporary models of creativity including the Wallas four-stage process, the 4P framework, and the Brandt and Eagleman model of Bending, Breaking, and Blending, this session reveals how Shelley's waking dream exemplifies the interplay between emotion and cognition at the heart of every creative breakthrough. Recent neuroscience findings on the Default Mode Network, daydreaming, and the "aha" moment bring her story into startling modern focus.
Frankenstein is reimagined here not only as a literary masterpiece, but as a timeless case study in the psychology of invention. A reminder that genius can emerge from solitude, sorrow, and wonder.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
Describe major psychological and neurocognitive models underlying creativity.
Analyze Mary Shelley's creation of Frankenstein through modern frameworks of innovation and insight.
Evaluate the dynamic relationship between imagination, crisis, and the creative process.
Vineeth P. John, MD, MBA, is a double board-certified psychiatrist specializing in geriatric psychiatry, currently based in Houston, Texas. He serves as the John S. Dunn Professor in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, where he also holds the role of Vice Chair for Education and Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Program. His clinical interests span adult general psychiatry, bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, and the psychiatric care of older adults.
A passionate advocate for creativity in medicine and education, Dr. John has dedicated his career to cultivating learning environments enriched with openness, creative problem solving, and innovative thinking, believing these conditions are the foundation for extraordinary scholarship and discovery. Over the past decade, he has also been studying the effect of disruptive styles of leadership in organizations, presenting his research at national and international conferences.
Dr. John earned his medical degree from the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India. He completed his psychiatry residency at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and his fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business.
Throughout his career, Dr. John has held academic leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry and is actively involved in psychiatric education and training initiatives at the national level.
Ezekiel Hinojosa, MD, is a fourth-year psychiatry resident in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. He earned his MD from McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2022, and his BS in Biology and Psychology, magna cum laude, from Texas A&M University in 2018, where he was a recipient of the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Texas A&M Century Scholarship.
Dr. Hinojosa has demonstrated exceptional academic achievement throughout his training, earning the Psychiatry Residency PRITE Award in each of his first three years of residency. He has been selected by his program director to lead the residency's APA MindGames team and was chosen by forensic psychiatry fellowship leadership to assist in developing a forensic psychiatry clinical track within the residency program. His research background spans phospholipid signaling in tumor cells, circadian rhythm and genetics, and medical informatics, with publications in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Cell Science and BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making.
A dedicated educator and mentor, Dr. Hinojosa has developed and delivered numerous lectures and case conferences throughout his training, with a particular commitment to building the next generation of psychiatric clinicians. His co-presentation with Dr. Vineeth John at the Creativity and Madness 2026 conference reflects his growing interest in the intersection of psychiatric science, human experience, and the creative mind.