ByteCast Ep67: Mary Lou Jepsen

In this episode of ACM ByteCast, our special guest host Scott Hanselman (of The Hanselminutes Podcast) welcomes Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO and Founder of Openwater, a technical executive and inventor in the fields of display, imaging, and computer hardware with about 300 patents published or issued to her name. She founded and led two moonshots at Google X and was later an executive at Facebook/Oculus VR. Prior to this, she was a professor at the MIT Media Lab, where she co-founded and was the first CTO of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), and later founded Pixel Qi in Taipei, Taiwan, focused on the design and manufacture of displays. Jepsen has been named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine (“Time 100”), CNN’s top “10 thinkers” in science and technology and has won numerous awards numerous from professional societies in the fields of optics, display, and electronics. She’s a frequent keynote speaker, has given two highly viewed TED talks, and is frequently featured in top global press publications.

Mary Lou discusses her work with Openwater, a startup working on innovative imaging technology using infrared light, ultrasound, and electromagnetics to diagnose and potentially treat diseases, and aims to leapfrog traditional drug development. She and Scott talk about the role of patents in manufacturing, and regulatory and technological barriers in healthcare innovation. They also dive into the advantages of the company’s open-source model, both for its software and hardware designs. Mary Lou highlights some of their breakthroughs, including stroke detection and non-invasive cancer treatment. She also talks about reducing cost and scaling production, next steps in clinical trials, and future possibilities with open source.