Tooth and Nail: The Making of a Female Fight Doctor

Description

“Well-written, compelling, and revealing.”—Ronald Epstein, M.D., creator of Attending

A fearless and exhilarating memoir of a surgeon who became one of the most first female ringside boxing doctors in New York City, for fans of Judy Melinek, Pauline Chen and Atul Gawande

Fresh out of medical school, Linda Dahl started her surgical residency in the Bronx as a total fish out of water. Growing up in a Middle Eastern circle of relatives in the American Midwest, she used to be a born outsider, and in her new community in New York, she felt even more isolated. Even at work she struggled to slot in: among her fellow specialists, she used to be one of the most only women.

One night, at her husband’s urging, Dahl watched a boxing match between Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya. Seeing Mosley continue to exist against the odds gave Dahl hope that she, too, could find her footing. As her fandom grew, boxing became a way to connect to her patients and community. Later, when she used to be in practice on the Upper East Side, Dahl received a phone call from the New York State Athletic Commission. They were in search of a fight doctor. Dahl accepted.

Tooth and Nail chronicles the years Dahl spent as an ear, nose and throat surgeon by day and a ringside physician by night. Intrepid, adrenaline-fueled and loaded with at the back of-the-scenes takes on famous boxers, including Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko and Miguel Cotto, Dahl’s story offers a modern examination of sexism, dislocation, the theater of boxing and a road map for how to excel in two very different male-dominated worlds.