Our instructors

Rika Knox

Rika Knox is originally from Japan, and moved to Vancouver in 1993. She has been teaching Japanese since 1997 to students of all ages at schools at local colleges and through the Vancouver and Burnaby School Boards' adult continuing education programs. Rika earned her Provincial Instructors Diploma Program in 2006.

Rika joined UBC Extended Learning in 2018. She is a well-regarded instructor who is passionate about teaching Japanese language and culture.

Varada Kolhatkar

Varada Kolhatkar, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. She teaches applied machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence in UBC’s undergraduate and Master of Data Science programs. Her teaching focuses on making complex AI and machine learning concepts accessible, practical, and relevant to real-world problems. Varada brings experience from both academia and industry and has worked in Canada, the United States, Germany, and India. She was recently awarded UBC’s Killam Teaching Prize in recognition of excellence in teaching and contributions to student learning. 

Anders Kraal

Anders Kraal, PhD, has been a philosophy instructor at UBC since 2015. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral student at the University of Calgary and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Notre Dame. His research and teaching focuses on early modern philosophy (especially Hume and Kant), and he also has a strong interest in Kierkegaard, existentialism and the problem of evil.

Claudia Krebs

DR. Claudia Krebs, MD, PhD, has been teaching neuroanatomy and gross anatomy to MD undergraduates, biomedical engineering students and allied health professions at UBC for more than a decade.

At UBC, she has worked on integrating technology and novel visual approaches in the classroom. She’s particularly interested in the integration of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), as well as examining the impact of AR and VR on student learning.

In 2017, Dr. Krebs created the HIVE (Hackspace for Innovation and Visualization in Education), a multidisciplinary space for innovation in biomedical education. The HIVE team has created educational extended reality (xR) apps, such as the HoloBrain and the Pocket Pelvis, that have been adapted as learning resources.

Together with UBC colleagues, she has published a neuroscience textbook with a set of accompanying flashcards that’s used in classrooms around the world. With anatomy educators from across UBC and from partner universities, she‘s creating open educational resources for neuroscience and anatomy for the global community, including videos, e-books and interactive web materials. All of these materials are available on two websites she curates, neuroanatomy.ca and clinicalanatomy.ca.

Dr. Krebs has received numerous teaching awards, including the 2018 Killam Teaching Prize.

Emanuel Krebs

Andrijana Kudjerski

Madeleine Lamer

Julie Lampitt

Jose Lara

Helen Novak Lauscher

Helen Novak Lauscher, PhD, is Associate Lead, Digital Emergency Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She has more than two decades of experience in research, teaching and community‑engaged digital health initiatives. Helen has taught courses in adolescent development, assessment, telemedicine and eHealth research methods, and has contributed to interprofessional and Indigenous health education.

Her roles at UBC include research and program leadership and mentorship across interdisciplinary teams. Her projects draw on participatory, qualitative and arts‑based methods to support digital health literacy, evaluate virtual care models and strengthen community partnerships that advance equitable, person‑centred approaches to care.

Helen’s recent publications include work on real-time virtual support as an emergency department strategy for rural, remote and Indigenous communities, and on how real-time virtual supports can improve health equity and access in British Columbia.

LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-novak-lauscher-149685b/

Bomae Lee

Jessica Lee

Joan Li

Joan Li is from Beijing, China and has a Masters in Applied Linguistics. She has mainly been involved in language teaching and translation in China, Japan and Canada. Since joining UBC Extended Learning in 2005, she has taught Mandarin as well as Chinese characters courses.

Darrell Lim

Darrell Lim, MA, PCC, helps leaders find the clarity and confidence to make the changes they desire to see in themselves and the teams they lead. He works with senior teams and leaders to advance their organizations and achieve their objectives. His calm and inquisitive style assists with discovering the real priorities for the organization as well as its strengths and challenges.

Before becoming a certified coach, Darrell led operational and technology teams. He brings his expertise in executive coaching, shifting cultures and facilitating change to clients by delivering powerful talent and leadership development strategies.

Viviane Dias Lima

Siliang Liu

Celine Liu is an Applied Scientist at Amazon, where she develops advanced machine learning and generative AI solutions for large-scale recommender systems. She holds both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Science from the University of British Columbia, where she also teaches data science and machine learning. Her research spans recommender systems and large language models.

Connie Lo

Nathan Lockhart

Nathan Lockhart, MA, CEC, is a learning professional and certified executive coach with more than 20 years of experience. He specializes in the design and delivery of experiential training both in live, virtual classes and in online self-guided courses. He also provides one-on-one coaching to executives on topics related to leadership, communication, and negotiations.

A former employee of Health Canada and the Privy Council Office, Nathan’s knowledge spans a number of disciplines, including public policy development, negotiation, issues management, and strategic communications. He’s a dynamic public speaker with a strong understanding of workplace challenges and demands facing professionals and has delivered more than 500 workshops to organizations in the private, non-government, and government sectors.

Terence Lowe

Terence (he/him) is the Program Leader, the Centre for Equitable Systems Design (CESD) at UBC Extended Learning managing the equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI), anti-racism and intercultural communication programming. Terence overseas the delivery of learner-centred teaching methodologies, facilitator training and support, and instructional content for the CESD’s courses, online certificate programs, and organizational development programming.

Terence has worked extensively in community-engaged learning and EDI work as an educator, consultant, advisor, trainer, and facilitator for an array of adult learner programs in higher education and community-based organizations, locally, nationally, and abroad. He firmly believes in inspiring learners to grow in empathy and deep courage to do the work it takes to transform the systems we are in.

Jenny Lu

Jenny Lu always brings to the classroom her passion for Chinese language to motivate her students. She excels at creating learning environments tailored to students' individual needs. She participates actively in Chinese culture by performing at intercultural concerts, and enjoys reciting beautiful Chinese poems both in class and on stage.