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Center leader Nobles, the CEO of Heart-


Stitch Inc. and Nobles Medical Technologies, is coming back to Liberty in 2019 — this time to stay.


The inventor will lead Liber-


ty’s Center for Entrepreneurship, helping it promote an entrepre- neurial spirit among students. “What we really want to


do is to teach students how to think like entrepreneurs,” Falwell explains. “Not just to go out and get a job and wait for the end of the week when they get their paycheck, but to really look for ways to add value, to have ideas and pursue them, to take risks, to problem-solve and innovate, to not be afraid to try and fail and try again, because that’s how this school was built — on entrepreneurialism.” Nobles, who has lectured at


relatively new NobleStitch — a mechanism that is remotely guided through the vascular sys- tem to the heart to sew the hole shut. The invention has been used successfully in the U.S. 130 times without any complications. At the end of their presenta-


tion, Nobles and Thompson revealed the identity of their patient — Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. Students gasped and applauded as Falwell appeared on stage, expressing his gratitude to Nobles and Thompson. Taking the microphone, Fal-


well encouraged students to take inspiration from Nobles’ inven- tion. If you have an idea, “don’t just dismiss it — try it,” he said. “That’s what has made modern medicine the way it is today, all these brilliant people willing to test ideas out. [They’re] entrepre- neurs really.”


Photo by Meridith De Avila Khan


many schools, had been looking for a permanent university posi- tion. Liberty, he explains, is a per- fect fit because it operates more like a startup than an educational institution. He was impressed with


Liberty’s willingness to take risks on innovative ideas during its 47-year history. Today, it is Vir- ginia’s largest university in terms of total enrollment, with 103,388 students (15,105 residential and 88,283 online). Liberty also has more than $3 billion in gross assets, including nearly $1.7 bil- lion in cash reserves. “I just believe in what they’re


doing there. I have a lot to give and I needed a home to do it — and I think Liberty’s that place,” Nobles says. In addition to teaching and


leading the Center for Entrepre- neurship, Nobles plans to create a think tank of professors and consultants. It will review stu- dents’ business ideas, providing them with advice and resources to launch companies. Nobles eventually plans to


create a HeartStitch research sub- www.VirginiaBusiness.com VIRGINIA BUSINESS | 71


Liberty’s 17-story Freedom Tower is the centerpiece of a $500 million construction project begun in 2011.


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