Mary Lou Jepsen

Despite humanity’s exceptional technological achievements, cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease and depression are still some of the most challenging health conditions we face. It takes a special kind of mindset to look at these problems and feel inspired to use new techniques to solve them. Mary Lou Jepsen, Ph.D. – technology pioneer, inventor, physicist, artist, and serial innovator – is pioneering the use of emerging and converging technologies to build devices that, once implemented, promise to change the world.

Jepsen’s solutions – using infrared light, ultrasound and electromagnetics to leapfrog the capabilities of drugs – are gaining ground with strong clinical evidence and cost structures that could enable treatment for all, transcending borders and income levels. Ultrasound treatments for brain tumors and $100 computers for children in developing countries bring once-large scale devices down to a handheld size that’s reasonable for small clinics and home users. As she explains in her standout TED Talk, Jepsen’s inventions promise to make health care, education and the future accessible and inclusive to more people than ever before.

Transforming Medicine with a Future-Focused Innovation Mindset

A former professor at MIT Media Lab and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia before becoming a leading technical executive with Facebook, Google and Intel, Jepsen uses her technological know-how, passionate determination, and shrewd entrepreneurial instinct to drive progress forward and build a better future where no challenge is insurmountable. As the founder, CEO and Chairman of Openwater, she develops groundbreaking imaging technologies that will both diagnose and treat cancers, mental diseases and cardio vascular diseases, as well as 90% of what kills us – reducing health care costs and saving countless lives. Jepsen, also director at two public companies, Lear Corporation and Luminar Technologies, who has been named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and a CNN Top 10 thinker, makes the seemingly impossible a reality with a framework for innovation that leverages and unleashes the creative engine within an organization.

“The main reason for rising health care costs for new therapies is the increasing cost of clinical trials for drugs, and for the device for novel therapeutic medical devices. I’m working to lower the cost of all of this with a platform approach which enables us to ride Moore’s law to new places,” says Jepsen, who was named to the Forbes 50 Over 50 list in the Entrepreneurs category in 2022. “The tools of our time are ready for this now, and it can reduce the development time and costs of new therapies by 10x or more – starting now.”

Jepsen’s fascination with body and brain imaging began over two decades ago as a graduate student. As she faced death at the hands of an unknown disease, a generous professor funded an expensive MRI scan. A brain tumor was found and removed, and she recovered to become a brilliant scientist and inventor with over 250 patents and 50 game-changing products to her name. After founding her own companies and scaling them by partnering with some of the biggest names in tech, she finally felt comfortable using her innovation process to advance the health care industry.

“I love virtual reality (VR) and I did a lot of great things in this space for decades. About five or six years ago, all of this talent was going into VR and augmented reality (AR) and I thought, ‘Great, they’re going to do it and make it great. It’s going to happen now.’ But what was being missed was too large for me to let go of,” says Jepsen. “I didn’t think anybody saw that diagnostics and therapeutics in health care could be transformed by the advancements in next-generation silicon components for high fidelity VR, AR and LiDAR products.”

The medical devices in the testing phase at Openwater leverage both the body’s existing qualities and the latest in imaging and therapeutic technology to accomplish tasks that were previously unimaginable. Profoundly brilliant, Jepsen is also a skilled communicator who illustrates how her team tackles complex neurological topics with accessible metaphors, leaving audiences feeling energized and ready to take on the world. Even a complicated problem, like removing an inoperable brain tumor, sounds almost easy to solve when Jepsen expresses how her invention uses “harmonic resonance, like an opera singer and a wine glass” to address it.

“I never stopped dreaming of how to create wearables to communicate with our thoughts and to see inside our bodies at consumer electronics pricing,” she recalls. “I want to get this technology to every doctor in the world.”

Building the Future by Tackling the Biggest “Moonshots”

Jepsen’s contagiously unstoppable attitude invigorates audiences, leaving them with a lasting motivation to take on the biggest “moonshots” available to them. Her unparalleled experience in tackling some of humanity’s greatest challenges with cutting-edge technology in a startup culture not only inspires but also changes the mindset of anyone who hears her speak. Audiences are empowered to approach obstacles with renewed vigor and creativity. Her reverberating message reminds audiences that we can do anything – even taking on the world’s toughest medical conditions.

Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Openwater, which seeks to create a silicon hospital in a smart phone sized device to treat cancer, mental disease, cardiovascular disease and beyond. Jepsen has worked in many capacities for Google, Intel and Facebook, and in 2005, she co-founded and was the chief technology officer for One Laptop Per Child, a non-profit organization that developed technology to make laptops affordable for children in developing countries. She architected the $100 laptop which became the fastest growing consumer electronics category ever recorded, creating a not-for-profit with multi-billion dollar revenue that created $30B for its for-profit partners, and most importantly transformed educational opportunities for children in low- and middle-income countries.

After this venture, she founded Pixel Qi Corp, which was the world’s only fabless display developer and a spin-off of One Laptop Per Child. In 2012, she became a Director and Head of Display Division at Google, and in 2015, became Executive Director of Engineering for Facebook and Oculus. She founded Openwater in 2016.

For her work, Jepsen has received a wide range of awards. She won the IF Product Design Award, the Horace Mann Medal, Mobile Innovation Award, INDEX Design Award, Best of Computex Award, Display of the Year Award, Anita Borg “Woman of Vision” Award for Innovation, three Popular Science “Best of What’s New Awards,” IEEE ACE Award Grand Prize, World Technology Award and the NBA/Cisco Inspiring the Future Award. She is a member of the WITI Hall of Fame, an OSA Fellow, and has been named on several lists including CNN’s top 10 thinkers, Forbes Top 50 Women in Technology, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, and the top 50 Female Computer Scientists of all time. She also received the 2011 OSA Edwin H. Land Medal.

Jepsen holds a Ph.D. in Optical Physics from Brown University, Honorary Doctorates from Brown University and Athabasca University and an Sc.M. in Media Technology from MIT.

Mary Lou Jepsen is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group^®.