Dr Hannah Lester is the founder and CEO of Atova Regulatory Consulting. She is a veterinary scientist with an MSc in Veterinary Public Health and a PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology. Prior to founding Atova, Hannah worked for Pen & Tec Consulting as their Scientific Director and latterly, their CEO.

Hannah has over 18-years´ experience in regulatory affairs, helping clients world-wide obtain regulatory approval for veterinary medicines, animal feed and human food in the EU and other global markets. Hannah is a leading expert in alternative proteins and innovative food and feed technology and along with assisting Atova´s clients, she also supports industry associations, non-governmental organizations, and governmental agencies to help them develop new approaches for the risk assessment and risk management of alternative proteins and innovative foods, and drive policy change. Hannah is on the board of Cellular Agriculture Europe, where she is actively working with stakeholders to pave the way for a smother and more predicable approval process for novel foods in the EU.