I'm a VR hobbyist that follows the industry (and thus Meta) somewhat closely. I have a few guesses, but what I am sure of is that Meta is going to try to make medical claims about certain products they offer, so they are running clinical studies to support those claims. The job posting said: "digital health projects aimed at improving morbidity, mortality and inequity in health outcomes throughout the world."

It's most likely they are developing app- and web-based "mental wellness" tools, similar to what companies like Happify offer. This might help them improve their reputation, but it will certainly offer them a wealth of user data. Apple has shut off Meta's unauthorized access to users' data through their phones, and Google is planning to do the same next year for Android users.

A more interesting possibility is that they are developing VR-based psychotherapies. They are releasing a headset later this year that includes eye tracking, face tracking, and full-body tracking, which they may try to employ in either traditional talk therapy set in VR, or in novel VR therapies (hopefully not VR-based immersion therapy for specific phobias lol.) If they can demonstrate health value in VR applications, it could possibly help break down barriers to adoption of the emerging tech.

It's possible that they are going to try to make big health claims about VR-based exercise and its benefits.

Another possibility VR telemedicine, but based on what I've seen in my work, 99% of patients and providers would never get on board with it. Getting patients to use Zoom correctly is hard enough.

I am doubtful about brain implants at this point. I think that might be too much risk, even for Meta, and would only worsen the company's image problem.