Dr. Santosh A. Helekar got his medical degree (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) from the University of Bombay in 1982. He earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine in 1991. He held faculty appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Neurology at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and Weill Medical College (WMC) of Cornell University before rejoining as a scientist and associate member of Houston Methodist Research Institute in 2010. Dr. Helekar is also an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery in the Academic Institute of Houston Methodist Hospital. As a member of the Research Institute Neurosciences Research Program, he directs the Magnetic Stimulation Device Core Laboratory. He is also a member of, and director of the Oncomagnetics Initiative in, the Kenneth R. Peak Center for Brain and Pituitary Tumor Treatment and Research in the Department of Neurosurgery. Presently, his primary research is focused on the development of a new noninvasive portable magnetic stimulation device called the Oncomagnetic device for use in the treatment of glioblastoma. He also conducts neuroscientific research on neuromodulation using another portable wearable device called Transcranial Rotating Permanent Magnet Stimulator (TRPMS) developed by him and Dr. Henning Voss of WMC. He also collaborates with other members of the Research Institute on TRPMS and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in various neurological conditions. Dr. Helekar has been a member of grant review boards of the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and Alzheimer's Association. He has also been an E-print editor of Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, and a reviewer for several international research foundations and scientific journals in his fields of interest.

Dr. Helekar's current research program focuses on the development and refinement of two new portable wearable noninvasive magnetic stimulation devices, namely an Oncomagnetic device (OMD) to treat glioblastoma and a neuromodulation device called Transcranial Rotating Permanent Magnet Stimulator (TRPMS) invented by him, the latter in collaboration with Dr. Henning Voss of WMC. Ongoing projects in his laboratory primarily involve studying the anticancer effects of OMD in cell culture, mouse models and human subjects. Other projects are focused on TRPMS stimulation using brain functional magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiological approaches for application in basic neuroscience research and neuromodulatory therapies in neurobehavioral disorders. He is also interested in developing devices and methods inspired by theoretical ideas to conduct research related to neural processes underlying consciousness.