“WPI does not have a large medical center”
Not true, they actually have a formal research student affiliation with the U Mass Med school about three miles away. See https://www.wpi.edu/research/partnerships/university-massachusetts-medical-school.
“70% of their student body is studying engineering.”
True, however of the 2019 BS awarded 240 students majored in the following life science related majors: Biology, BME, CM Biochem/Chemistry, and Bio Informatics. There were 87 BME graduates, 85 Chemical Engineering graduates and 78 other life science related graduates in the class of 2019
Worcester Mass is actually the home of the Mass funded research park largely because of the U Mass med school. Check out these resources @ https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biology-biotechnology/research
Some exciting work at WPI was done by a faculty member who earned his PhD from Stony Brook. He is now a fellow at the National Academy of Sciences. He did this work at WPI. See https://www.wpi.edu/people/faculty/gaudette
WPI’s own state assisted research center in the life sciences is on the WPI campus. Gateway Park is interdisciplinary is these related fields by design so these different life science related majors work next to each other. This is cutting edge.
This is not your standard engineering college. It was just another pea in the pod 50 years ago before the WPI PLAN which was launched in 1970. The students do not memorize material for the med cats, but they research real problems to design real solutions. This is what engineers do and is employed today as a modern approach to solving medical issues.
By way of example, check out https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biomedical-engineering