--- a
+++ b/merlin/data/download_data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+from merlin.utils import download_file
+
+
+def download_sample_data(data_dir):
+    print("Downloading sample data to {}".format(data_dir))
+    file_path = download_file(
+        repo_id="stanfordmimi/Merlin",
+        filename="image1.nii.gz",
+        local_dir=data_dir,
+    )
+    return file_path
\ No newline at end of file