Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) will need to fill a top executive position following an announcement that Mary Lou Jepsen, the executive director of engineering at the firm will leave to pursue greener pastures.

Jepsen was the head of the Oculus division at Facebook. She announced her plans to leave the company so that she can venture into medical technology particularly MRI technology that will help address and cure diseases. The Facebook exec made her announcement during her keynote speech during the Women of Vision Awards held at the Anita Borg Institute in Santa Clara, California.

Jepsen to pursue MRI technology

Jepsen stated in her keynote speech that she plans to leave her current position at the social network firm to pursue new imaging technology for curing diseases. She also stated that she has been working on the technology for a while. The venture aims to shrink MRI technology so that it can be developed into wearable devices that will be made available to the consumer. The technology will be capable of treating diseases such as cancer.

Jepsen stated that she had had the idea of drastically improving MRI technology for about ten years. She stated that it is a big idea and the reason she went to MIT [Media Lab] and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL). She revealed that she sidelined the project since 2005 after finding out that Alphabet wanted to focus on other pursuits. The Facebook executive now believes that she has a clear path towards achieving her objective with the technology and she also believes that it will be possible in a few years.

Jepsen most likely derives her motivation on the project from her experience. She was diagnosed with brain cancer more than 20 years ago, but she had the tumor removed in 1995. Jepsen believes that her project can leverage the latest advances in artificial intelligence, Big Data, consumer electronics, optoelectronics, and physics to develop smaller MRI gadgets with enhanced functionalities and significantly lower prices.