Here Peter Bandettini has a wide  ranging discussion with the 2021 Early Career Investigator Awardee, Chao-Gan Yan. They talk a bit about his career path, the highly impactful work he has been doing, as well as some of the most challenging issues in fMRI: dealing with motion, variability, finding biomarkers, and designing just the right packages that help the beginner and  expert alike. Chao-Gan gives some great advice to new investigators regarding what was important to him to get him where he is today.