Investing in research to combat an epidemic
It sprawls across a vast expanse on the northwestern outskirts of Moscow, a semicircular complex of 23 interconnected buildings whose cream-colored façades shine brightly in the late-fall sunshine. The sparkle is only fitting, because this is the crown jewel of Soviet academic medicine: the new headquarters of the eight-year-old U.S.S.R. Cardiology Research Center. American specialists got their first view of the buildings' endless white corridors and advanced diagnostic equipment last year, shortly after the new medical complex opened, when the Soviet Union played host to more than 5,000 physicians from around the globe, who were...