Dr. Blankstein graduated with honors from Muhlenberg College and then attended New York Medical College, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Dr. Blankstein completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital, followed by a fellowship with the Fox Chase Cancer Center Hematology/Oncology Program. In 1990, he joined the staff at Hunterdon Medical Center and was instrumental in bringing the affiliation and establishing a research program.

Dr. Blankstein has co-authored several research articles that have been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and the International Journal of Radiation and Biophysics on hemostasis and lung cancer therapy. He has served as chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and was past president of the Hunterdon Medical Center medical staff. He has been a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey) since 1986.

He currently is an active member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and is the co-director of the Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center program.