Facebook & Oculus VR's Mary Lou Jepsen steps down

In a switch from the usual stories of industry luminaries going to work for Facebook's Oculus VR, the company's executive director of engineering and head of display technology for Oculus VR Mary Lou Jepsen is leaving for pastures new.

Oculus VR, known for its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and acquisition by Facebook, has a history of attracting industry talent. Former Google Glass engineer Adrian Wong joined the company in 2014, a year after gaming veteran and id Software co-founder John Carmack, who was joined by fellow id alumnus Kenneth Scott. Now, though, the company is suffering its first major departure: Mary Lou Jepsen.

Facebook's executive director of engineering and head of Oculus VR's display technology division, Jepsen is reported by CNET to have chosen to leave the company to develop a wearable device designed to help cure diseases using magnetoresonance imaging (MRI) technology.

Jepsen's departure comes as Oculus VR shuffles its chief operating officer post: former COO Laird Malamed, co-founder of the company, is moving into a general manager role in the company's Seattle office and is to be replaced in the COO role by Hans Hartman, who comes from a stint at wearables specalist Fitbit.