During the past two decades, tens of thousands of Russian scientists, including leading researchers in the field of biomedicine, have left Russia to work abroad. Some scientists maintained contact with institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS); however, such interactions were usually initiated by the scientist. Recently, there has been a shift in the pattern of international collaboration; the meeting between the representatives of the National Institute of Health (USA) and the Russian Academy of Sciences, held on April 25-26, 2011, in Moscow, is evidence of this change.