Vineeth John, MD, MBA, is Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. John is also the Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Section and is actively involved in various educational initiatives directed towards enhancing domain expertise among psychiatry residents. He received his medical training from Christian Medical College in Vellore, India and completed his residency in general adult psychiatry at Tufts-New England Medical Center and fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital. In addition, he holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business. Over the past decade, he has been studying the effect of disruptive styles of leadership in organizations and presenting his research at national and international conferences.

Today, we learn about the three C’s: Curiosity, Creativity, and Collaboration. Dr. Vineeth John shares a systematic approach to inspiring more creativity in medicine: It begins with finding our flow state, and is enhanced by finding creative partners that make up for our personal deficits. He also believes that strong mentorship has good Chemistry (Ok…there are four C’s) in which mentors often see their reflection in their mentees and mentees often aspire to become like their mentors.

Pearls of Wisdom:

1. Reference the three C’s: Curiosity, Creativity, and Collaboration - these are essential ingredients for success in life.
2. Creativity can be enhanced by identifying your own flow state, and finding a creativity partner they can keep you in that state.
3. Mentorship requires chemistry: A strong mentoring relationship is where a mentor sees his reflection in the mentee, and the mentee senses that their mentor is who they would want to become more like. When we find that match, we should not second guess ourselves.