After becoming a physician, Matthew Varallo is now at the forefront of drug abuse research, sits on the Orange County California Academy of Family Positions board, serves as the FUHS football team physician, and next year, will be the President of the CAFP. 

Despite his impressive list of accomplishments, Varallo attributes his career success and passion to his high school sports experience at Fullerton High School.

“As growing adults, sports teach you how to win. It teaches you how to lose. It teaches you how to be a part of something bigger than yourself. And it teaches you the value of hard work,” he said.

Matthew Varallo became acquainted with the pain of losing a loved one, along with the impacts of drug abuse, at an early age. When Varallo was 14 years old, he lost his closest grandfather to cancer. He also grew up exposed to drug abusers and alcohol addiction within his own immediate family.

“I’ve seen what addiction can do firsthand to a family. Every single person is going to come across it, in a friend or family member at some point in their life. It’s very scary,” Varallo said.

Varallo grew up in La Habra, but chose to attend FUHS coming from a small Catholic middle school. Varallo graduated from FUHS in the class of 2003.

Even while facing challenges at home by being exposed to substance abuse, Varallo was able to thrive in the Fullerton athletic program.

Along with his academic career, he was a multi-sport athlete. He performed at the varsity level in baseball, basketball, football, and wrestling. Senior year, he was placed on the second team all league for football, won his league in wrestling, and was seated in CIF as a top wrestler.

Not only did Varallo strive to aid others who suffered from substance abuse following the passing of his grandfather, but he also was inspired to contribute in other meaningful ways to his childhood community.

As a FUHS football player, Varallo says that he remembers looking down the sideline at the team’s physician, Michael Samuelson, and thinking that he wanted to give back to the community in the same way.

“I can’t say a bad thing about him. My coaches and mentors invested in me and let’s face it, kept me on the right path,” said Varallo. “One day I said that I want to do that, and from then on, I’ve always wanted to do it.”

Varallo has also experienced the effects of drug abuse firsthand through his medical career and warns of the dangers of drug abuse in teenagers and young adults especially.

“Most of the time with teenagers, it’s either vaping, nicotine, or THC or cannabis use. A big problem is that cannabis is now legal in California, but it is no longer what it used to be 10, 20, 30 years ago,” Varallo said.

THC, also known as tetrahydrocannabinol, is the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana and other cannabis products. The chemical content within the cannabis plant affects brain functions, resulting in chemical releases within the brain, producing an unnaturally induced high.

In the early nineties, the THC content in most cannabis was about 5%. Now, the plant content is above 20% for cannabis products sold in California. Cannabis in the form of a vape contains around 90% THC content, and by dabbing it, you consume nearly 100% of pure THC.

THC has been known to cause long term physical and mental health problems such as respiratory diseases, altered brain development, cognitive impairment, and depression.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but cannabis use can lead to cannabis induced psychosis. Your brains are still developing, so if you get enough cannabis exposure, there is a chance of developing schizophrenia, even without a family history of it,” Varallo said.

He currently serves as a family medicine doctor at Kaiser Permanente, and specializes in substance abuse and mental health.

Varallo’s wife, Heather Varallo, is impressed with the way he handles all of his patients’ needs. She says that his ability to connect with his patients makes him stand out from other doctors.

“A lot of doctors just want to fill out the prescription and then send you on your way, but what’s  always been the amazing part to me is that Matt gets to know all of his patients,” Heather said.

Varallo uses a similar mindset while treating patients on the football field.

He has volunteered as the FUHS football teams’ physician since 2023, and works hard to implement support for players in both the physical and mental aspects of sports. On game days, he treats players on the sideline, making sure that the players are first physically fit to play, but also in a healthy emotional state.

Since injured players can’t play on the field or practice with their team, Varallo says that he must interact with the players in an authentic manner.

“Being genuine and sincere is the most important thing. You’ve got to leave your own personal biases at the door, because you have to meet them where they’re at too,” Varallo said.

His contribution to the FUHS community is just the beginning of Varallo’s determination to impact as many lives as possible.

He is currently working on updating the Southern California alcohol screening for Kaiser Permanente. The new screening will be online, giving more people the opportunity to get in touch with doctors if they need medical assistance.

“The bottom line is you gotta get to the patient early, before it becomes a major problem,” said Varallo. “Addiction is an illness. It is not a choice, because any addict would tell you that if they had a choice, they wish they’d never touched it, period.”

Varallo tries to reach as many patients as possible, and gets much of his intense determination, through his experiences with his own family. He says that understands how to empathize with addicts on a deeper level than other substance abuse specialists.

“No matter how much exposure I have with addicts, I’m not an addict, so I’ll never understand an addict’s brain. But because I’ve been on the receiving end, I think that has really given me an edge in this field,” he said.

He also attributes his success with treating addicts to his persistence and relentless hard work.

“I’m not that smart, but I’m a grinder. I guarantee you, you’ll find doctors smarter than me, but there is nobody who’s gonna outwork me.”

And it’s true, nobody is going to outwork Varallo.

After graduating in 2003, he attended CSUF, and got a degree in business administration with emphasis in economics. He minored in Chemistry. Since then, he has been recognized as a Top Doctor in the Orange Coast Magazine, took on the CAFP Resident Council Co-Chair from 2015-2017, and volunteers as the FUHS Football Team Physician. He has also been an Orange County CAFP Board Member since 2023.

Along with his long list of achievements, next year Varallo will be the Orange County president of the California Academy of Family Physicians.