The education and training of clinical scientists has served society in several ways. For academic pharmacy, the emergence of clinical science has provided research and scholarship opportunities for clinical faculty development. Clinical scientists have also begun to play important roles in industrial drug research and development. For all faculty and students, clinical science research reinforces a "research mindset" that will become increasingly important as our society moves from a production/extraction to an information-based economy. Pharmacy will best evolve by increasing its commitment to clinical science research. In the process, academic pharmacy must continue to improve and support excellent education and training programs for clinical scientists.