This research explores challenges in developing privacy-preserving information networks and services (PPNs). Next generation healthcare information systems and applications, such as personalized and predictive medicine, need PPNs for privacy-preserving information sharing and dissemination among independent healthcare providers, enabling information access over distributed access controlled content, while safeguarding personal health information and medical privacy of individuals from unauthorized disclosures. The intellectual merits of this research include the development of: (1) privacy-preserving search capabilities over distributed access controlled content, a critical functionality for PPNs; (2) a suite of utility-aware data anonymization services, preserving the privacy of personal medical information against unauthorized disclosure, at the same time maximizing the data utility for medical service providers; and (3) the PPN architecture and middleware optimized for high availability, scalability and failure recovery. The broad impact is two-fold. First, this research will create better and broader understanding of the challenges and functional requirements for building the next generation of privacy preserving networked information systems over distributed access controlled content. A domain-specific proof-of-concept prototype on top of the PPN core will be developed for discovering and analyzing risk factors for resistant bacterial infections. These real-world studies will be conducted in collaboration with Morehouse School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and be use as both a driver and a testbed for this research. Second, this research will demonstrate that the PPN is an enabling infrastructure for real-time, continuous and on demand data analysis over massively-distributed and privately-shared data repositories.