Desikan graduated from The Bronx High School of Science, a school for gifted students, in 1995. Desikan completed his BA, MD and PhD training at Boston University, Radiology Residency at UCSD and Neuroradiology Fellowship at UCSF. He completed postdoctoral fellowships in Neuroimaging with Bruce Fischl at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Neurogenetics with Anders Dale at UCSD.[9]