Prior to joining the Atlantic Council in 2011, Pham was a tenured associate professor of justice studies, political science, and Africana studies at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he was director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He is the author of more than 300 essays and reviews and the author, editor, or translator of over a dozen books, including Somalia: Fixing Africa’s Most Failed State (coauthored with Greg Mills and David Kilcullen). In 2015, the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution elected Pham to the Board of the National Museum of African Art, of which he is presently vice chair.