Prior to joining the ICTJ, Patricia Karam was senior program officer at the US Institute of Peace's (USIP) Grant and Fellowship program where she created and managed a portfolio of grants and contracts promoting conflict prevention and peace-building in Iraq and Colombia. Karam also directed a working group series at USIP on Lebanon’s Reconstruction. Prior to joining USIP, she served as programs and development officer at the Iraq Foundation in Washington, D.C. There, she developed capacity-building and advocacy strategies for the foundation. Karam has also consulted for the Environmental Background Information Center, an environmental non-governmental organization engaged in social justice activism, and has coordinated programs at New York University’s (NYU) Trauma Studies Program focused on the study, treatment, and prevention of trauma-related suffering in conflict-ridden zones.

Karam holds an M.S.F.S. degree and a certificate in Arab studies from Georgetown University, and is currently on leave from NYU’s Law and Society Ph.D. program. Her academic work at NYU has revolved around identity politics and indigenous people’s rights in the Western Sahara.