Pham was the United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa,[1] from March 2020 until the end of President Donald Trump's administration in January 2021.

[2] In August 2004, Pham joined the faculty of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia as a member of the institution's new justice studies program.

[9][2] Pham went to Liberia in 2005 to serve as member of the USAID-funded International Republican Institute (IRI) delegation monitoring the national elections in that country.

[9] Since 2011, Pham has been director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C. and, since 2016, also served as vice president for research and regional initiatives.

[4] On March 1, 2020, it was announced that Pham was appointed to the newly-created position of United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa.