I. Introduction
I HAVE been invited to write a Guest Editorial describing the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging of the University of California at Los Angeles. As I began to formulate the outline, I realized that this is an assignment that requires considerable introspection as well as taking careful stock of the past 20 years. Considering all the forces, both internal and external, that influenced the direction and composition of this laboratory was something that I had never done before. It almost seems like a task that should be done for me posthumously by someone else. So, in order to avoid any eulogistic overtones, I will try to include some of my own thinking and strategy, along with descriptions of the scientific milestones that highlight the evolution of the laboratory. These will be included wherever appropriate in an attempt to humanize the narrative. One observation that I was able to make is that of all the things that shaped the laboratory, only some were carefully planned and executed, while others seemed to befall us by happenstance. Looking back on some of them, I am amazed at how seemingly insignificant experiments, problems, and scientific or social interactions profoundly affected the laboratory.