Meet Our Founder Leigh-Ann Hasselbach

Leigh-Ann Hasselbach completed her BSc Honours in Biochemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005 and later completed a PMD through GIBS Institute.

Her scientific career began within the agricultural sector in 2006, specialising in agricultural commodity chemicals and integrated food solutions. During this time, her work increasingly focused on improving health outcomes through biochemical and systems-based approaches.

Driven by a passion for innovation and sustainable health solutions, she developed and designed a patented feed intervention aimed at reducing antibiotic reliance while improving animal health and production outcomes. The invention combines short-chain fatty acids, a nitrogenous compound, inositol and xylanase to support improved health and yield while minimising pharmaceutical input requirements.

Patent grants for this innovation were awarded across multiple jurisdictions including Argentina, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia and the United States.

As her work evolved, so did the questions driving it.

While working across agricultural health systems, Leigh-Ann became increasingly aware of the broader biological challenges emerging globally, particularly the growing overreliance on antibiotics and the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance. She recognised that many of the same antibiotic molecules administered in human medicine were also being extensively used within food production systems, contributing to an increasingly complex global health challenge.

At the same time, she began observing something equally important: no two individuals responded to interventions, medications, nutrition or environmental triggers in exactly the same way.

What worked remarkably well for one individual could produce little effect or even adverse outcomes in another.

This realisation deepened further as she expanded into nutrigenomics and functional genomics through Foundations in Nutrigenomics with Manuka Science. Through the lens of genetics, biochemistry and systems biology, she began to see how profoundly individual human biology influences responses to food, stress, lifestyle, medications and modern environmental pressures.

A pivotal moment came after witnessing a close family friend nearly lose her life following complications from a resistant bacterial infection after a routine Caesarean section. At the same time, Leigh-Ann was researching the widespread use of similar antibiotic classes across agricultural systems while simultaneously observing the vast differences in how individuals responded to medical and nutritional interventions.

It was in connecting these experiences that the deeper vision behind Navigator Biochem began to emerge.

She realised that true precision health requires more than simply treating symptoms or applying generic health strategies. It requires understanding the unique biology, biochemistry and genetic architecture of each individual person.

Today, as Founder of Navigator Biochem, Leigh-Ann works with individuals globally to bridge the gap between ancient biology and hyper-modern living through precision genomics, biochemistry, nutrition and pharmacogenomics.

Her philosophy is simple:

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to health because every individual carries a unique biological blueprint.

What works for one person may not work for another, even within the same family. Differences in genetics, biochemistry, environment and lived experience shape how each person responds to food, stress, lifestyle, medications and therapeutic interventions.

Navigator Biochem exists to help people better understand their own code, support root-cause biology and navigate modern life with greater clarity, insight and alignment.

Only when we truly understand our uniqueness can we begin to align modern nutrition, lifestyle, therapeutics and precision interventions in ways that allow people not merely to survive modern life but to truly thrive within it.