Esteban Bullrich received the Profile 2025 Award for the Common Good for his sustained work in raising awareness and research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that causes progressive muscle paralysis and affected his speech after it was diagnosed in April 2021 while he was still a national senator.
Bullrich thanked him for the award through a message read by his daughter Margarita at the ceremony at Editorial Perfil: “Receiving this recognition fills me with deep gratitude, the kind that comes not from pride but from the awareness that everything you do is always part of something bigger than yourself. Today I am not grateful for an award: I appreciate the path, the people God has shown me and the opportunities to serve this life gave me, even in the most unexpected moments.
“I thank Perfil and this jury of personalities for looking beyond my boundaries and perhaps recognizing the intention behind every gesture,” the message continues. but by the light that you let through. And if there is something I have tried to do in these years, it is precisely this: to let the light circulate.
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“Remind us, me first, that we are in this world to serve, that life is more fulfilling when we know we are a part of ourselves.” We are ending a difficult year, a year that for many has been marked by uncertainty, trials and searchesBut it was also a year in which we once again saw the power of Argentine solidarity: this ability to speak up when others stumble. I am a living witness to this power. Thousands of people I never saw supported me with their love, their messages, their prayers. For me, this love is the public good made flesh. That’s why I would like to share a deep wish with a view to 2026.
“I hope it is a year in which hope is not a word of consolation, but a reality that we rebuild together. A year in which we put aside the temptation to divide and believe again in the power of commonality. A year in which we understand that Argentina needs less shouting and more meetings, less distrust and more trust, less meanness and more service. There is no personal project that can flourish if we do not first embrace a collective project.”
And he concludes: “Our country deserves to dream again, but for this we need spiritual leaders in all areas: in politics, in education, in neighborhoods, in families.” Leaders who can unite, heal and listen. Leaders who understand that the dignity of others is inviolable. Thank you for this award, which I receive not as an end point, but as a reminder: as long as we have life, no matter how small, we can always offer something that illuminates. May 2026 find us like this: more humble, more hopeful and more helpful.”
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Despite the complexity, Bullrich explained after his diagnosis that he would not define it and would continue to work to do “more and better.” A few days after resigning his seat in December of the same year He dedicated his public life to the Esteban Bullrich Foundationfrom where he promotes access to diagnosis, experimental treatments and greater visibility of pathology, a task that made him a reference in the face of adversity and that was reflected in his biography Warrior of silence.
His attitude towards the disease is that of a believer who, with love for family, friends and faith, has learned to “color” a “painted black” future and transform it into a message of hope and collective resilience.
Who is Esteban Bullrich and what career did he have in Argentine politics?
Born in Buenos Aires on May 26, 1969, the Argentine politician developed an extensive career in public service and later his battle with a degenerative disease made him a public figure with a strong social impact. Furthermore, he is the son of Esteban Bullrich Zorraquín and María Ocampo Alvear and has a combination of German, Spanish and Basque roots; In addition, he is the eldest of three brothers in a traditional family from Buenos Aires.
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He has an academic education as a system graduate from the CAECE University with a solid basic technical education and a clear professional orientation. His calling for improvement led him to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the United States.
At the same time, his foray into politics came in 2001, coinciding with a major social crisis in Argentina marked by institutional and economic instability. The beginnings go back to the liberal economist Ricardo López Murphy, with whom he shared the presidential candidacy of Recrear in 2007 and ran as a candidate for vice president.
At the beginning of his public career, Esteban Bullrich’s political career developed on several fronts, mainly in what later became Propuesta Republicana (PRO) and Cambiemos/Juntos por el Cambio:
♦ National Deputy (2005-2007, 2009): He represented the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
♦ Minister of Social Development of the City of Buenos Aires (2007-2008): He looked after María Eugenia Vidal during her maternity leave during Mauricio Macri’s first term as head of government.
♦ Minister of Education of the City of Buenos Aires (2010-2015): He took over the position in 2010. At this point he already showed a strong interest in the education sector. He had previously had his first experience with education as a volunteer at an NGO in Nicaragua, where he taught mathematics.
♦ Minister of Education of the country (2015-2017): He was appointed by President Mauricio Macri. During his term in office, he ordered the delivery of laptops to students and teachers (Sarmiento Plan) and, within the city of Buenos Aires, reduced subsidies for private schools in order to increase teacher salaries in public schools.
♦ National Senator for the Province of Buenos Aires (2017-2021): He led the Cambiemos list and won a victory in the 2017 parliamentary elections. During his term in the Senate, he headed the Budget and Finance Commission.
Over the course of his career, he identified himself as part of a center-right bloc (PRO), he spoke out against feminism and in favor of the traditional family, and in 2018, as a senator, he opposed the national campaign to decriminalize abortion, which relied on religious arguments.
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