[2] Varela taught graduate-level public health policy and advocacy at Long Island University before beginning to write full time.

He detailed his experience on that day to Nicole Chung in The Atlantic, "I don’t know when the nightmares started, but after that, it was a long time before I could fly again.

"[6] Varela's debut novel, The Town of Babylon, was published in 2022, and shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.

[7] The judges for the award said, "With this urgent, vivid novel, Varela has given us a modern classic and an indelible portrait of our times.

The New York Times called it "a master class in analyzing the unspoken... Varela illuminates our society’s Gordian knots with a seemingly effortless wit and empathy.