Pam has a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Cambridge where her thesis focused on ecological aspects of historical change in a Sichuan village. During her fieldwork, in the early 1990s, she was attached to the Sichuan Bureau of Animal Husbandry studying livestock development projects.  After completing her PhD, She was adjunct professor of Anthropology at UNC Charlotte and also ran an organic farm with chickens, cows, and dairy goats.  Pam helped create the China Fieldwork Program in Yunnan for Sidwell Friends School where she taught the course on Landscape Ecology.  As CEO of the China Folk House Retreat, Pam’s responsibilities include a range of logistical responsibilities from building permits, insurance work, fundraising, camp preparations, to finances.