Larissa Adler Milstein was born in Paris in 1932. She studied Social Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa for excellence. She earned her doctorate in the same discipline at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico. She is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas, en el departamento de Modelación Matemática de Sistemas Sociales, of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) [Institute for Research in Applied Mathematics and Systems, of the Department of Social Systems Mathematical Modeling of the National Autonomous University of Mexico], where she is Researcher Emeritus. She also belongs to the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) [National Researcher System], where she has been Researcher Emeritus since 1996.

Dr. Adler Milstein’s most notable academic contributions are in Social Anthropology. Ever since she published "Reciprocity of favors in the Middle Class of Chile", in 1971, her point of view powerfully attracted the attention of scholars studying the social reality of Latin America. She has approached, with anthropological methods, the Mexican academic world, particularly that of the UNAM. Her most recent works, address the problem between Chile’s middle class and neoliberalism, and offer an analysis of social networks among lawyers in Mexico. 

She is a member of the scientific committee of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education Research and Knowledge, whose function is to analyze and consider the overall prospects in education and knowledge in regions such as Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. She is a member of the Consejo Consultivo de Ciencias de la Presidencia de la República (CCC) [Science Consulting Council of the President’s Office].

She has received more than seventy awards, scholarships and honors. Outstanding among them are a scholarship from the Guggenheim Foundation; the Premio Universidad Nacional [National University Prize] in the area of Social Sciences; Honorary Doctorate in Human Letters from the University of Massachusetts; was selected to conform the Consulting Council "Advisory Committee" of the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame; and in recognition of her academic career in American Studies, she was awarded the Distinción del Congreso Internacional de Americanistas [Distinction of the International Americanists Congress]. She received the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes [National Award for Science and Arts]. 

She has published eight books, five of which are published in both languages, English and Spanish. The book entitled "Cómo Sobreviven los Marginados" [How the Marginalized Survive], published by Siglo XXI, has reached its fourteenth edition. In addition, she has over 70 book chapters in both, national and international publications. Her production in international journals consists of 47 papers, 30 articles in Mexican journals and 8 articles divulging knowledge. She has received at least 1,631 citations.