The program's director, Regina Dwerlkotte, and Kaiser pediatrician Dr. Charles Wibbelsman visited The View from the Bay set to promote Kaiser's Educational Theatre.
About Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theatre Programs:
Current productions include:
A community benefit of Kaiser Permanente, Educational Theatre Programs are offered free of charge to eligible schools and community groups. If you are interested in bringing the program to your child's school, you can visit www.kp.org/etp.
Learn more about Kaiser's Educational Theatre Programs: www.kp.org/etp
Bios:
Regina Dwerlkotte, PH.D.
Director, Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theatre Programs, California
Dr. Dwerlkotte is the Divisional Director of Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theatre Programs (ETP), California. Her commitment to high quality educational and artistic theater for children has brought Kaiser Permanente wide acclaim for this free, community benefit program. Dr. Dwerlkotte has been instrumental in the creation of ETP's Nightmare on Puberty St., a tongue-in-cheek journey through adolescent angst, PEACE Signs, a five-part program to "increase the peace" for upper elementary school students, and The Best Me, a multi-intervention program about healthy eating and active living for upper elementary students and their parents. She has also directed and coordinated Secrets, an HIV/AIDS and STI prevention program for high school students. During her tenure ETP has inspired over ten million children throughout California to make better decisions about their health and well-being.
Prior to joining Educational Theatre Programs in 1990, Dr. Dwerlkotte taught for eight semesters at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her Ph.D. in Dramatic Art. There she won numerous awards for her writing, teaching, acting, and directing, including being twice given the university's most prestigious award in the arts, the Eisner Prize.
Charles J. Wibbelsman, M.D.
Chief, Kaiser Permanente's Teenage Clinic, San Francisco
Dr. Wibbelsman is a physician in the Department of Pediatrics at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco where he is Chief of its Teen Clinic. He acts as medical consultant to Educational Theatre Programs. Dr. Wibbelsman is Chair of the Chiefs of Adolescent Medicine for Kaiser Permanente, Northern California, a member of The Committee on Adolescence for The American Academy of Pediatrics, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and President- Elect of The San Francisco Medical Society. He has devoted his entire professional career in medicine to child and adolescent health. Dr. Wibbelsman is a widely published author of books and articles on teenage health, including The Teenage Body Book and Growing and Changing: A Handbook for Preteens. He also has participated on national and local TV shows on these subjects.
Dr. Wibbelsman received his Honors B.A. in classical language from Xavier University and his M.D. from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine; he interned at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 1979, he was Chief of San Francisco's Venereal Disease Control Division of the Department of Public Health.
