Thomas began his studies of physics and medicine at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany. He received the MS and MPhil degrees in Physics from Yale University and the PhD degree in Medical Physics from the Harvard University-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. He is currently a postdoctoral associate with MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics and a Research Fellow in Fetal/Neonatal Neurology at Boston's Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. His research interests include mathematical modeling of physiological systems, model reduction, and model identification, particularly when applied to the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. Currently, Dr. Heldt applies these methodologies to improve patient monitoring in intensive care, peri-operative care, and home health care environments.