There is still great collective paucity in our society in appreciating the importance of scientific work for the devolopment of the nation. In this context, relevant clinical research has ben greatly discouraged. The Ministry of Education and the National Comission for Technical and Scientific research (CONICYT) have been committed, with no outstanding results however, to encourage these activities, specially sustaining individual projects originated in the tradicional universities. Precarious conditions persist as manifested by meager budgets for investigation. Public health policies and organization are scarcely endorsed in locally generated clinical or public health knowledge. Postgraduate training programs, specially doctorates, needed to increase the academic human resources with a consistent scientific potential, are very limited. Recent governmental initiatives, altogether with specific proposals waiting for implementation, would certainly contribute to optimize and promote the revival of our impoverished scenarios in clinical research. (Rev Méd Chile 2001; 129: 317-23)