Fresh out of medical school, Linda D. Dahl was nervous to begin her surgical residency in the Bronx. Compounding the long hours and overwhelming workload, Dahl felt like a perpetual fish out of water. Growing up in a Middle Eastern family in the American Midwest, she was a born outsider, and in her new community in New York, she felt even more isolated. Even at work she struggled to fit in: among her fellow specialists, she was one of the only women.

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

Tooth and Nail chronicles the three-and-a-half years Dahl spent as an ear, nose, and throat surgeon by day and a ringside physician by night. Intrepid, adrenaline-fueled, and loaded with behind-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 roadmap for how to excel in two very different male-dominated worlds.